Lights Out! Panic at Minto's Mansion
by Rizu Neko-Chan
Summary: A seemingly innocent sleepover party involving four of the mews, home alone, is suddenly interrupted by a power outage, leaving them in the huge, dark mansion unattended. But are they really the only ones there? KxI PxT LxP -Completed-
1. Lights Out!

(A.N./ …And it's time, oh loyal readers, to release a new story! This one is release-as-you-go, so it might take me longer to update. Never worry, though, because I have some fun stuff planned for the plotline. But of course, if you have any suggestions, feel free to put them in a review; I'd be happy to apply them to the story! Enough of the jibber-jabber, hoopla, and rumpus (fun words), though, to the new story!)

--

One stormy night in Tokyo, clouds gathered eerily above the Kanto region, threatening thunderstorms. They cast shadows on a dark, scary-looking mansion, which stood high above the residential houses in the area. It was surrounded by brass gates that reflected the moonlight in an unnerving sort of way.

Inside the mansion, however, were four preteen girls in frilly pajamas, sipping tea and eating pastries off a platter while discussing the days events in excited chatter (no rhyme intended). The four girls were Ichigo, Minto, Retasu, and Purin, the fifth of the Mews absent from their all-girl sleepover party.

Minto sighed wearily,

"Honestly, you girls are making such a racket. Maybe it was best that I sent the maids out for a night after all…" Ichigo blinked curiously,

"You dismissed your maids for a night?"

"Yes," Minto replied, "They need breaks every once in a while or they won't function well enough." Ichigo smiled,

"You've really softened up, haven't you, Minto?" Minto scowled,

"I have not! Like I said, the maids just need-"

She was interrupted by a tremendous crash of lightning outside her window. Ichigo tensed a bit at the loud noise, her cat features popping up and staying out. Purin, who was occupied making a pillow fort, abandoned her source of amusement. She ran over to the window and stared, transfixed, at the pouring rain outside.

"Man, it's really dumping, na do da!" she exclaimed, eyes round in excitement. Retasu nodded, sipping her tea delicately. Despite her acts of gracefulness, her fingers trembled nervously, and caused the tea tray to rattle against the dish. Minto seemed unfazed by the storm, and just sent an airy look to the rest of the girls. It was almost as if she had said, out loud, "You guys are as mature as a kindergarten class!"

However, Minto was resolving to be kind for the day, for she had learned a life lesson from her "onee-sama", Zakuro (the one not present at the sleepover) today, that taught her a lot about getting along with others. She popped a small pastry in her mouth and finished swallowing it before muttering,

"I hope Mother, Father, and Brother get home safely…"

Purin stepped away from the window,

"Your parents and brother aren't here, na do da?" Minto shook he head,

"No, they are at a concert event at my brother's school. He plays for the head of the orchestra there." Ichigo thought this over for a few moments before asking,

"Does that mean that you're home alone?" Minto nodded,

"You could say that." Purin jumped up and down excitedly,

"We've got the whole mansion to ourselves, na do da!" Ichigo and Retasu sighed at Purin's sugar-high mood began to show. She continued, "We can explore and play hide and go seek and-"

CRASH! She was cut off by a massive peel of thunder and bolt of lightning. Not moments later the whole room went completely dark. All four of the girls shrieked in surprise. Ichigo was "nya"-ing, Lettuce was whimpering, and Purin was panicking. Minto was the first to recover,

"Does anyone have their cell phone?!" Ichigo spoke,

"I left mine back at Café Mew Mew!" Retasu spoke next,

"I don't have a cell phone."

"Me neither, na do da!" Purin said, beginning to get a little more of a distressed tone in her voice. Minto spoke,

"Okay, I have about three, I think…" The Mews sighed, relived. Minto continued, "But I don't exactly know where they are."

"Wh-what about flashlights?" Ichigo offered.

"I don't know where those are, either," Minto said. Everyone sighed in disappointment. The droning of the rain outside reached everyone's ears as they sat in silence. Retasu shivered at a breeze she felt, but it quickly passed.

"I guess we'll just have to stake it out here alone, na do da," Purin said sadly. Her voice brightened as she spoke again, "What about hide-and-go seek in the dark?!" Ichigo immediately protested,

"And get lost in this mansion?! No way!" There was a small silence before Retasu spoke meekly,

"What about our pendants?" Purin squealed excitedly,

"Retasu-oneechan, you're a genius na do da! We can call Ryou and tell him to tell Minto's servants, na do da!"

"Maids," Minto corrected spitefully.

Retasu reached behind her onto the dresser to feel around. Her hand found no contact with the metal of the pendants they had all set there.

"That's weird," she said, "Didn't everybody set their pendants up here on the dresser?" Everyone replied with "mhm"s or "yup"s .

"Why?" asked Ichigo. Retasu spoke quietly,

"Well…um…they're sort of gone."

"Wha-a-at?!"the rest yelled. Using whatever light was coming through the window to the west of Minto's room, they all scampered over to the dresser to look for themselves. Sure enough, their pendants were gone.

"I could have swore I set mine right here!" Ichigo said in a panic. She searched the floor around the dresser, but to no success.

"Something's up around here, na do da…" Purin said, using her super-detective voice she loved. A smirk crept up Minto's face as she said,

"Maybe it's a ghost!" Ichigo automatically squealed and dived under the covers,

"Eeek! I hate ghosts!"

"We're aware, Ichigo-san." Retasu said quietly. She was desperately trying to come up with some kind of logical explanation for why they would be gone.

"Okay, here's a plan," she said, "Each one of us is going to split up and try to search the mansion for either a cell phone or a flashlight. Either would be useful in this case. When we find one or the other, we should meet back in this room and try to contact the other three by…yelling or screaming," she concluded.

"That sounds…okay…I guess…" Ichigo said nervously. She was still trying to get over the thought of being eaten by a ghost, or something worse, like being tortured, or stabbed, or…

In spite of herself, Ichigo was getting more and more scared by the second.

Purin spoke excitedly,

"Sounds fun, na do da! It's like playing detective, na do da!" Minto nodded,

"That sounds fine. Ichigo, you take the area by the guest and family rooms, which is downstairs to your left. Retasu, you take the area by the kitchen and dining room, which is downstairs on your right. Purin and I will search the upstairs bedrooms and bathrooms." Ichigo nodded slowly, pretending to understand what she just said.

Purin, being energetic all over again, jumped up, skipped over to the other side of the room, opened the door, and charged down the halls with a laugh and a giggle of excitement. Minto got up and trailed after her, keeping her own pace. Retasu took Ichigo's hand comfortingly,

"Come on, we'd better get started searching the downstairs." Ichigo whimpered and got up. They walked out the door and down the steep steps, clinging to the handlebars as not to trip. They most likely would have, too, if the stairs were free of their grips.

Finally, when they reached the bottom at an old-lady pace, Retasu let go of Ichigo's hand,

"Now we have to spilt up. I'll go this way, you go the other way." Ichigo nodded,

"K-kay." Retasu whispered a goodbye and began her search on her side of the downstairs. Ichigo slowly turned from where she was standing and timidly began to walk in slow, small steps, keeping her eyes glued to the darkness in front of her.

Suddenly she felt a cold rush of air around her and breath on the back of her neck. She shivered with wide eyes, much too scared to turn around to confront what she confirmed to be a ghost. Of course it was a ghost, it's a big mansion, after all. Big mansions usually have ghosts. The voice that spoke from behind her, though, was not one of a ghost…

"Can't sleep, Koneko-chan?"

Oh no.

--


	2. Unexpected Visitors

(A.N./

Chapter two, what a sight to see!

It's almost as good

As chapter three!

With twists and turns

And cliffies galore

It'll leave the readers

Begging for more!)

--

Of course, at that moment, Ichigo understood the pendants, the breeze, and the small creaking noises she thought she imagined.

There were aliens in this house. More than one, she would bet.

In spite of herself, the first thing Ichigo did was react on her initial instinct, which was to scream. But after she had a large intake of breath, the pesky alien, Kisshu, behind her, sensed what she was doing and clamped his hand over her mouth,

"Shh! You don't want to scare anyone, now do you?"_ Ichigo growled and ripped his hand off, speaking in a harsh whisper,_

"_What are you doing here_?!"

"Well," Kisshu said, striking a thinking pose, "We -as in Pai, Taruto, and me- thought that we would catch you guys in your weakest state here in the dark. And, without your pendants, your rendered completely useless!" Ichigo hissed like a cat,

"Useless, you say?! I'll show you useless!" She balled her hand up into a fist and was about to strike when Kisshu caught it in mid-air, 'tsk'-ing her softly,

"Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn't do that." Slyly, and still holding her fist securely, he pulled out a small, pink phone. Ichigo's eyes grew wide. It was one of Minto's phones! She had to get a hold of Ryou and tell him they were being attacked! It might be her only way out of the mansion. Kisshu snickered at her perplexed face and released her fist,

"But," he said, "You can only have it if you give me a kiss." Ichigo made a face of horror,

"No way!" Kisshu sighed and turned on his heel, waving the phone teasingly over his shoulder,

"Well, then, there goes the phone…"

"Wait!" Ichigo caught him be the wrist. She shuddered as she looked him in the eye. She scowled darkly, "I'll do it." Kisshu grinned in delight,

"Wonderful. Good choice!"

Ichigo held her scowl as Kisshu pulled her closer, wrapping his arm around her waist. Ichigo immediately shoved him off,

"Don't get too comfortable, pervert." she growled. Kisshu just snickered and leaned his face closer to hers. Ichigo tensed up as she felt his hand cup her chin, and she shut her eyes tight when she felt his warm breath on her face. Almost a split second after she felt his lips press gently against hers, Ichigo pulled away,

"There! Happy?" she said angrily. Kisshu pouted mockingly,

"Oh come on, Koneko-chan, that wasn't _nearly_ long enough!" Ichigo hissed again,

"You got your stupid kiss so give me the phone!" Kisshu sighed, crestfallen, and handed the pink phone to her before quickly teleporting away.

Wondering what that quick exit was all about, Ichigo flipped open the phone and held down the green button.

Nothing.

She held it down again.

Nothing.

She saw the little power symbol on the button she was pressing, but it wasn't turning on. That was when she realized she had been tricked into getting a dead phone. She ran her hands through her hair in frustration,

"Next time I see that stupid alien, I am going to _kill_ him!"

Before that, though, she had to find her friends and warn them about the plan. However, before she could take a step, she heard a scream…

--

Pai was currently rummaging in the cupboards of the mansion's kitchen. He didn't recognize the strange room's purpose in the least, and was currently searching all of the cupboards for valuable information. Unfortunately, all he was finding was earth food. Good for nothing earth food, would you believe it? What was he going to do, poison the Mews? Actually, that sounded like a fairly good idea, but he was on a strict mission to gather information, not try to assassinate people.

Just when he was about to give up hope, a sack of flour fell from one of the cupboards he was searching in, and, before he could prevent it, fell onto his head. He pulled it up by the top, only to have it unroll and drench him in the white, powdery substance. He quickly wiped the stuff from his eyes and tried to brush it off his limbs to no success.

The disgusting substance was covering Pai completely. It made him feel like some kind of cake or dessert of some sort, and he didn't like it at all. Just then, he remembered the water-dispensing device they call the "faucet" on the other side of the room. He turned around to walk over to it when he froze. He saw a stalk-stiff figure in the doorway to the room. He immediately recognized him…or her.

It was Mew Lettuce, of course; Pai could recognize those bright blue eyes anywhere. Right now, though, they were fixed on him, utter fear clearly visible in her twisted expression. He thought about why she was so afraid, but it didn't take him long to remember a few factors.

A.) He was an alien

B.) He was intruding a seemingly innocent 'sleepover party'.

C.) He was covered in flour.

He blinked, waiting for some kind of reaction, but there was none. She was standing utterly frozen there, not daring to move. He decided to make the first move,

"It's not wha-"

He was cut off from his explanation when Retasu shrieked and turned to run.

She_ still doesn't recognize me, _he thought as he read her movements. He stretched out his hand to stop her, a futile attempt,

"Wait!"

But…she was gone.

Pai grimaced and massaged the bridge of his nose.

_This is going to be frustrating._

--

"Alien! Alien!"

The little pink, fluffy robot named Masha came flying in through the bedroom window, chirping noisily. He looked around the room, curious to where the pesky enemies, or the Mews, might be.

Suddenly, though, he heard a voice coming from a lump under the covers of the bed,

"Masha, na do da?" Masha buzzed around over the lump excitedly,

"Alien, Mew Pudding, alien!"

"Masha, tell Ryou that the Mews are in danger at Tokyo Tower, okay, na do da?" Masha paused,

"But Masha senses aliens _here_!"

"It's a trap, Masha, na do da. Just deliver the message that the Mews need help at Tokyo Tower, na do da!"

"Masha will! Masha will!" he chirped enthusiastically. He darted out the window, eager to be on an important mission.

From under the covers, Taruto snickered mischievously; he was quite proud of his new-found skill at the impressionistic arts. He smirked,

"That will throw him off well. He sure won't be bothering us any time soon!" He quickly silenced himself, though, when he heard footsteps entering the room.

"Mr. Cell Phone, na do da," he heard the all-too-familiar voice call, "Where are you?"

A bead of sweat fell down the side of his face. He stayed stone-still, hoping not to give his position away. If he teleported now, Purin would see him for sure and stop him before he could get away.

Stuck under the covers of the bed, he nervously awaited his fate in the hands of the monkey-girl…

--

Ichigo skittered in the direction she had last heard the shriek. She was moving at a slower pace, as not to run into any sort of "real" ghost (though she doubted that was the cause of Retasu's fear). More likely was that she was scared of running into an alien in her helpless state.

Nevertheless, she was still searching to comfort her friend and identify the threat.

She did not expect, though, to run into Retasu herself, who was making a quick escape from whatever it was she was screaming at.

Ichigo fell back, as so did Retasu, and they both gasped,

"Ichigo?"

"Retasu?"

Retasu quickly pulled Ichigo into a hug,

"Oh, Ichigo, I was so scared! I saw a huge, scary ghost in the kitchen with a terribly frightening voice!" She let go of Ichigo in a rush, though, "Sorry. I probably shouldn't have done that." Ichigo smiled,

"It's okay, I'm glad you're alright," She continued, editing her story a bit, "I found a cell phone, but it was dead. And I also found out that the aliens are here." Retasu gasped,

"Do you think…?"

"Yes," Ichigo answered, "I think your 'ghost' was one of them. We have to keep an extra close watch-out for any of them, and try to find those cell phones as quickly as possible." Retasu nodded, still quite nervous,

"This is all a bit…overwhelming. D-do you mind if I stick with you when we search?" Ichigo smiled comfortingly,

"Sure! I think we can get things done better when we both work as a pair. The only thing is that the other girls don't know the aliens are here, but the cell phones will help us more in the long run. The girls probably know already to keep a lookout, too, because of your screaming." Retasu nodded, forcing a nervous smile on her distressed face.

Ichigo stood up and offered her hand to Retasu, who took it and lifted herself up. She gripped Ichigo's palm tighter in hers, the two girls walking off to what they perceived to be the direction of the expansive dining room.

"Ichigo-san?" Retasu said quietly after a bit.

"Yes?" Ichigo replied.

"How do you know the aliens were here?"

Ichigo paused, wondering how she was going to get herself out of this…_awkward_ situation.

"It's a long story." she said after a pause. Retasu nodded,

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I'm guessing it had to do with Kisshu-san?" Ichigo winced. She should have known she would guess correctly; Retasu was the sharpest in the Mews, the one known for her intellect. Ichigo sighed,

"Yeah. I'd rather not talk about it."

"'Kay."

--

Minto wandered the halls of the second floor of the mansion. She knew the way fairly well, but in the dark, everything seemed so different. The shadows cast on the wall looked like the shadows of night creatures on the prowl, and the furniture even looked scary. In fact, the side table looked suspiciously like a giant dog…

Minto was mentally kicking herself for acting so much like a little kid. Of all things, why should she be scared of the dark? In her own house, nevertheless!

She bit her lip and continued walking to her parent's bedroom. Maybe she would just take a short break from all of this searching…

Just then, she heard a shriek from downstairs. It sounded like Retasu. Minto recoiled at the terrifying sound, but tried to comfort herself. Maybe she just tripped over something, or maybe she's scared of the dark too? She nodded to herself. That was probably it. Retasu was scared of the dark too. She felt somehow reassured that she wasn't the only one acting like a little kid around here.

But…what if Retasu wasn't just screaming out of fright of an _imaginary _thing?

Minto shuddered and turned the handle to her parent's bedroom. Opening the door slowly, she peered in cautiously, straining to see ahead into the dark. She spied a bright red object under her parent's bed. She blinked in observation and identified it as a hand-vacuum. Slowly, though, it came farther and farther out from under the bed. She took a step back in fright as it continued to travel outwards. The whole front of it had emerged when she saw a white, fanged grin appear from under the bed.

That was about as much as Minto could take. She shrieked as loud as she could and turned to run. At that moment, the vacuum turned on in a loud roar and she heard it chasing after her. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, the evil vacuum in hot pursuit.

What she didn't see was an impish glint flash across golden eyes hovering above the vacuum, and a pale-white hand gripping the handle.

This was going to be a long night.

--


	3. Wet

(A.N./

Here we are

At chapter three;

Makes me laugh

And jump and squee!

About those reviews,

Keep 'em coming.

I smile at them

While I munch on my muffin.)

--

Taruto gritted his teeth as he tried to make out the light footsteps of Purin wandering the room.

"Mr. Flashlight, na do da? Mr. Cell phone, na do da? Come out, come out, wherever you are, na do da!" Taruto scowled at the childish behavior.

In his opinion, stupid, silly girls such as she shouldn't be recruited to this sort of important mission. Did they really think so little of them that they sent out warriors such as the Mews? What were they, a bunch of preteen and teenage girls in frilly outfits?! The more he thought about it, the more angered he got.

After a few moments of brief calmness, though, he smirked deviously to himself as he came up with a plan to get rid of Purin. Not_ rid_ rid, though, just enough to get her out of the way for a considerable amount of time.

Putting his plan into action, he waited patiently for Purin's footsteps to come near to the bed. When she was close enough so that he could hear her breathing, he suddenly leapt up from the covers and raised his arms, hands in claws, while roaring,

**"RAAAWWWRRR!"**

Purin hesitated for a moment, and just looked at him strangely. Taruto, still posed like some kind of animal, sensed the awkwardness of the situation. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead as he observed Purin, who seemed completely unfazed.

After a little bit, Purin finally reacted.

"Hic." she covered her mouth instantly, a small smile creeping up her lips. She grinned,

"Taru-taru gave Purin the -hic- hiccups, na do da!" Taruto blinked, relaxing his position to a cross-legged slump on the bed, and looked at her strangely,

"…what's…'hiccups'?" Purin giggled at Taruto's ignorance, hiccupping once or twice, and Taruto didn't look all-too-happy about it. Purin finally recovered,

"Purin's not exactly -hic- sure, na do da, but -hic- you just make funny noises -hic- and they won't stop, na do -hic- da!" Taruto felt a smile also find its way onto his face. He found this situation rather amusing.

"So," he said, "How do you get rid of them?" Purin cocked her head to the side,

"Purin-chan invented -hic- special pills you take -hic-, na do da, but Purin didn't -hic- bring them, na do da -hic-," she thought for a moment before continuing, "Purin will be -hic-right back, na do da. Stay right here -hic-, na do da." She darted out of the room.

Taruto, of course, wasn't about to take orders from a little girl, so he teleported to the downstairs restroom. There, he turned on the faucet of the sink and the bathtub. He easily hacked the toilet with several tweaks and adjustment. Soon, with a flush, the bowl began to overflow, quickly spilling out onto the bathroom tiles. Satisfied with his work, he teleported back to the bedroom.

Purin was waiting there impatiently, tapping her foot, a fake-ish angry look plastered on her face. She grumbled,

"Taru-taru, where were you, na do da?" Taruto shrugged,

"Hey, it's not like you can keep me confined to this bedroom. I can wander wherever I want to, kid." Purin sighed,

"I guess you're right na do da…" she perked up slightly as she spoke, "Why are you here anyways, na do da?" Taruto blinked, fidgeting while he tried to think of an excuse,

"Well, I came to…um…visit you?" Purin's face lit up momentarily, but it sank again. She frowned,

"You're lying, Taru-Taru, na do da."

Taruto's eyes widened,

"W-who says?!"

"Purin does, na do da," Purin said smugly, maintaining the frown, "It's a Fong family talent, na do da." Taruto quick-wittedly came up with another excuse,

"It's a secret, okay?" Purin sighed,

"Fine, na do da. Purin will leave you alone, na do da." she was about to leave before she stopped and peered back at him, "By the way, na do da, have you seen Mr. Cell Phone or Mr. Flashlight anywhere, na do da?" Taruto shook is head,

"No." Purin nodded,

"Thanks anyway, na do da!" she smiled and turned out to the hallway. Taruto rolled his eyes as he regarded Purin's ignorance. Soon, however, he was distracted by a shriek. He turned his head sharply to the door where Purin was, who had just jumped back into the room in surprise. He glimpsed two blurs rush past the door.

One of them he identified to be Mew Minto; he could recognize her hair and height anywhere.

The second was a bit more difficult because of its shape, but it was also soon identified as…Kisshu? He was holding some kind of plastic, red thing that made noise. Taruto hid his face in his hands and groaned in the humiliation of his dim-witted companion.

Of all the times to play pranks, he really had to go chase a mew with a noise-maker during what Taruto called "Operation: Lights Out on 'Tokyo Zoo Crew'".

Not only that, but how long would it take before the Mews found out their plans? With this sort of plan, there was no telling if secrecy and stealth would remain an option.

Regardless, there was still an alien and a noisemaker on the loose, and he was about to ruin their secrecy.

Little did Taruto know that secrecy was already a thing of the past; Pai and he had already made sure of that.

--

Retasu and Ichigo walked around the dining room, inspecting cupboards and shelves. Occasionally Retasu would knock over a glass or dish, and it would shatter with a loud noise that would scare her out of her skin. Ichigo would just giggle and remark that Minto has enough fancy dishes.

Once, they heard something similar to a scream or a shriek through the closed, glass dining room door, and they both were a bit scared. Ichigo reassured Retasu, and herself, that it was probably the water pipes or something. Then they went back to work of finding the cell phones.

Ichigo looked up from searching and turned to Retasu,

"Retasu-san?"

"Yes, Ichigo-san?"

"Do your feet feel weird?" Retasu moved her foot around. Sure enough, they felt cold and somewhat…heavier, like she was pushing weight. She waved her foot around and heard a sloshing noise. She peered into the darkness to look at her foot, and, sure enough, the room was covered inch-deep in water.

"I-Ichigo-san! It's flooding!" Ichigo gasped and examined her numb feet,

"You're right! I can't believe I never noticed it before! We must've been here a while!"

"Do you think this is what the aliens were doing?" Retasu asked timidly. Ichigo nodded, her face solemn,

"Possibly. Come on, Retasu, we have to forget the cell phones; we need to warn the other Mews _now_!" Retasu nodded and followed Ichigo out the door to find even more water outside the dining room.

"W-what are they doing to get so much water?!" Retasu asked. Ichigo shook her head,

"I don't know. We'll find out soon enough, I'm sure," She smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "It's like they brought a fire hose in here!" Retasu smiled back and they both sloshed over to the stairs, and slowly began to ascend, tripping and slipping the whole way.

--

Pai was, in fact, bringing in something similar to a fire hose. Actually, he was hacking the sprinkler system in Minto's mansion. Instead of all of the water dispensing in showers throughout the house, he had cut off the sprinkler part of the device and let the water flow freely like a hose. After a few adjustments to the networking in the systems, he had the giant hose-in-the-ceiling gushing water.

Not only that, but he had found as many "faucet" devices throughout the house as he could, clogged their drains, and let them run. He had sealed all doors and windows shut, for the purpose of there being no escape for the Mews, and that the whole house was watertight.

He smirked to himself. Only an estimate of about two to three hours until he had flooded the entire first story like a giant fish tank…

--

Kisshu was having the time of his life. Actually, that was sort of exaggeration, but he was still having a ball. How long had he yearned to make the annoying, blue mew scream and run. Her prissy attitude made it an extra fun experience that he enjoyed _almost_ as much as pestering Ichigo.

So here he was, chasing Minto with a vacuum down her hall.

Soon, too soon, he felt the air ripple around him as a hand clasped the back of his shirt. He was force-teleported to the bottom of the stairs of the mansion. Taruto, his captor, whispered harshly to him,

"Idiot! What do you think you were doing?!" Kisshu rolled his eyes,

"What, I'm not allowed to have fun? If I'm not mistaken, I just saw Purin come out of the bedroom room you were in!"

Unbeknownst to both of them, Ichigo and Retasu were listening quietly and intently to their conversation from halfway up the stairs. Ichigo was having a hard time keeping quiet, as was Retasu. They exchanged perplexed looks as they leaned forward to hear the voices,

"_Never mind that, you could have blown the entire mission! Once Pai is done with all of the house modifications, then you can mess with the mews all you want. They'll be drowned in the morning anyways." _

Ichigo scowled at Tart's confident attitude and bit her lip.

"_It sounds to me like you're giving orders to your superior."_

"_Who said you were my superior?"_

"_I'm older than you, so, obviously, I am your superior. Now, pitiful worm, go fetch me an ice crème sundae."_

Despite the situation, Ichigo couldn't help but giggle at their conversation, leaning forward dangerously close to the handlebar over the railings. Beyond those railings was eight feet of air until the ground. Retasu noticed this and cautioned Ichigo in a whisper,

"_Ichigo-san, please don't-"_

But it was too late. Ichigo, being her klutzy self, made a slip off the stairs and went tumbling over the handlebars, falling with a shriek. Kisshu and Taruto both looked up with surprised faces, frozen to the spot. Ichigo, however, being a cat, landed squarely on her feet. She breathed a sigh of relief, but then moved her foot in the water and slipped. This time, Kisshu teleported in time to catch her neatly by the back. He grinned, pulling her to himself,

"You know spying is bad, kitty." Ichigo scowled and yelled to Retasu, who stood, frozen in fear, on the staircase,

"Retasu, get out of here and warn Purin and Minto, quick! I'll be right behind you!" Retasu nodded and started her climb up the stairs, keeping a quicker pace. Kisshu looked down at Ichigo curiously,

"What makes you say-"

He didn't finish before Ichigo had given him a hard slap across the face. Kisshu released her in shock and Ichigo took the opportunity to struggle out of his arms and skitter towards the staircase, breaking into a fast sprint. She began to run on all fours like a cat when she heard voices from the bottom of the stairs,

"_Get them! They know too much!"_

_--_


	4. United we Run

(A.N./

Oh here, oh here

Comes chapter four

It's knocking right

At your front door

I'll shut up

So you can read

The L/P shippers

I'll try to feed.

Happy Halloween, everyone! Guess what? I've been working myself hard this summer to make my little sister -also a Tokyo Mew Mew fan- a Mew Ichigo costume! It comes complete with ears, tail, wig, boots, and gloves! XD Yeah, now you know why I wasn't too fast updating PcB... -sheepish grin-

Anyways, I hope you guys have a great holiday!)

--

Ichigo felt the wind rush around her newly-grown cat ears and tail as she dashed up the stairs on all fours, the aliens right behind her.

"Oh, what would I give for my pendant right now…" she muttered to herself, stealing a quick glance behind her. She really shouldn't have though, because Kisshu was close enough so he could reach out and touch her tail.

She caught up with Retasu on the top of the stairs and they skittered down the hallway. Ichigo felt the cold skin of Kisshu's hand touching her back. She shivered and tried to think quick. An idea dawned on her when she spied an open doorway to her right at the end of the hallway.

She motioned to Retasu to follow her lead. She was almost past it and into the wall when she made a sharp, right turn and dashed in, slamming the door behind her and Retasu. A huge crash was heard outside the doorway, inevitably Kisshu's face meeting the end of the hall in his distraction of trying to grab Ichigo. Sure enough, they heard a loud groaning noise and,

_"I think I broke my nose! Go on without me!"_

_"Here, let me see it, Sir Distracted-a-lot."_

Ichigo and Retasu exchanged nervous glances.

"What now?" whispered Ichigo. Retasu furrowed her brow,

"Try the window!"

"But it's the second story!"

"Cat powers." Ichigo grinned sheepishly,

"Right. What about you?"

"Just get yourself out!" Retasu said, "We don't have much time!"

Ichigo nodded and went over to the window. She saw it was one that you pull upwards to open, so she undid the latch and pulled. Nothing. She looked at the sill to see it was sealed shut with some kind of plaster. She went to the window at the other side of the room, but it had the same plaster seal on it.

"The aliens must have trapped us in here!" she hissed. Retasu was fidgeting and shifting her feet,

"W-what n-n-now?!" Ichigo walked over to her,

"Retasu, calm down. We've-"

She hadn't finished before a teleportation hole began to open up in the middle of the room. That was when Retasu got an idea. She nodded to Ichigo,

"Jump! Hurry!" They both ran forward and sprung off their feet, flying into the hole. Taruto was knocked out of the hole and into the bedroom. He looked around and saw no Mews. That's when he put two and two together. Those pesky Mews had used him to get out!

"They're gonna pay…" he growled, clenching his fist. He re-teleported back to where he came from, and where the Mews were to be.

-

Ichigo and Retasu suddenly felt impact with the hardwood of the mansion's hallway. They groaned and sat up, rubbing their heads. Ichigo stood up, offering her hand to Retasu,

"Come on, we'd better get ahead." Just as she was helping Retasu up, two sets of feet came pounding down the hallway,

"Ichigo, onee-chan!"

"Lettuce-san!" Ichigo and Retasu were relieved to see the two other Mews come running down the hallway. They all fell into a big hug,

"I'm so glad we're together!"

"Where were you?"

"Purin was really worried, na do da!"

"Let's never split up again in this scary house!" They were all giggling in joy of their reunion, overjoyed to be finally together again.

But they weren't loud enough so they didn't hear a quiet, fifth voice from the end of the hall,

"Don't think this is the end..."

Kisshu rose up from the floor at the end of the hall. He looked angry. Really angry. Blood was dribbling out of his nose and down his chin to create a dramatic, horror-movie-like effect to his already dark aura. Purin whimpered and clutched onto Retasu's nightgown. He spoke again, taking a strong step forward,

"You'll all be dead by morning, you know? It's really too bad," he laughed darkly; no humor was portrayed in his voice, "I was actually having fun on this mission. But they need us back on our planet, so I guess you guys will have to die sooner or later anyways." He summoned a Dragon Sword in his right hand. Minto turned to run, yelling after her,

"Let's get going!" The other mews quickly followed, all except one. They looked back, gasping, as they saw that Kisshu had a firm grip on one of them by their neck. He pointed a sword at the captive Retasu's neck, saying,

"No one move, or she dies." Ichigo took a step despite the warning, and Kisshu moved his sword farther toward Retasu's neck, scraping it just barely. Retasu whimpered,

"Just get going! Don't worry about me!"

"No, Retasu!" Minto yelled, "It would be stupid to leave you behind!"

"Go ahead," Kisshu coaxed in a velvety voice, a wide smirk breaking out on his face, "It's one less Mew to take care of."

Taruto came flying down the hall behind him, calling,

"Kisshu, what are you doing?" Kisshu shrugged nonchalantly,

"My job." Taruto rolled his eyes,

"Your job is NOT to try and kill them, okay?" Surprisingly, a third teleportation hole opened up, and Pai made his first appearance to the group, still lightly drenched in flour. He observed the scene before him; all of the Mews and his allies' eyes were on him. He sighed,

"No, Kisshu, you do it like this." He went over to Retasu and took hold of the back of her nightgown. He took Kisshu's sword from him and assumed the position of captor. He spoke,

"We are not intending to harm you…for now. We will spare this Mew under one condition: you tell us where your base is."

"Our…what?" Ichigo said, playing the 'stupid' card. Pai sighed,

"The place where you are led and operated from." There was a small silence in the group. Ichigo looked at the Mews gathered around her, trying to see if they knew to keep quiet. Finally, Purin spoke,

"Oh! You mean like Caf-" Ichigo shushed her,

"No, not that kind of thing, Purin." She laughed nervously. Pai narrowed his eyes,

"What were you about to say, then?" Purin burst out before Ichigo could stop her,

"Café Mew Mew!" Pai raised an eyebrow,

"And where exactly is that?"

"Purin doesn't know, na do da." Purin shrugged. Ichigo mentally sighed in relief. Purin got the hint to play stupid along with the other Mews. Minto stepped in,

"We still won't tell you! Give us Retasu back!" Pai shook his head in mock disappointment,

"Let us try something a little different, then. I will give you your friend back if you can tell us why you are here, how many people are here, and why I have not seen any humans here. We were planning for a raid before we saw it was vacant." Ichigo stepped up boldly and quickly,

"We are here alone because Minto dismissed her maids, and her family is out with her brother." Pai smirked, murmuring to himself,

"Perfect."

He released Retasu gently, and nudged her down the stairs. Retasu, though, almost toppled over before Pai caught her neatly. He sighed, picked her up, and flew her down to her friends. He set her down gently and flew back to the top of the stairs, unfazed. Retasu's face turned a beet red as her comrades rushed to her,

"Retasu! Are you okay?!"

"Retasu-onee-chan!"

Retasu nodded, a bit star-struck, and sweating,

"Y-y-yeah, I'm…fine." Pai muttered something inaudible to Kisshu before all three of them teleported to who-knows-where.

"Are they gone?" asked Minto. Ichigo shook her head,

"I don't think so. They wouldn't just leave an opportunity like this."

Purin began a quick descent down the stairs and soon made a splash. She yelled,

"Woah, na do da! It's like a kiddy pool, na do da!" The other three mews turned to look, and saw that the entire first floor was beginning to flood; the water level was already a foot or two deep. Ichigo gasped,

"That's insane! How did they fill the huge first story so fast?!" Retasu shook her head,

"They must have turned on all of the faucets in the house. Maybe they got into the water pipes of the house? They surely could if they wanted to." Minto looked panicked as she spoke in a voice of aggravation,

"What am I going to do about the house when my parents get back?! I can't just tell them that aliens broke into my house and made it flood!" Purin was the only one who didn't look worried. She was splashing in the water like a kid at a water park,

"Don't worry, Minto! It's like your house is a giant swimming pool, but you didn't have to pay for it!"

"That's not the point!" Minto snapped. Ichigo sighed,

"Would you two quit it? We need to find a way to drain out all of this water!" Retasu was next to speak,

"Remember when we were stuck in that bedroom? All of the windows were glued shut. I think that's why they were like that; the aliens don't want us to drain the water, and we'll drown if the water keeps going at this rate."

The rest of the Mews were silent in thought. The quiet lapping of water on the steps was beginning to irritate Minto, so she spoke to break the silence,

"Do you guys hear that?" Ichigo furrowed her brow and listened. Concentrating harder, she began to hear rushing noises coming from all different sides of the house, though they were very faint. She said,

"I hear rushing of water!" Retasu thought for a moment before saying,

"If we can follow those sounds, maybe we can try and turn off faucets or plug any source of water. After that, we can try to cut a hole in the wall so it can drain."

"I'm not very good at karate, na do da, but I can try, na do da!" Purin exclaimed, excitement building once again. Ichigo smiled,

"So we have a plan! At least that's one step further. Let's all split up to find the most outlets of water." Lettuce bit her lip nervously,

"I…I thought we weren't splitting up." Ichigo's face fell,

"Oh…right. Fine, then, everyone to…um…the right!" she pointed to where she perceived to be the first faucet. Ichigo took Lettuce's hand, who took Purin's, who took Minto's. The chain of Mews stepped down to the floor, everyone being knee or thigh deep in water. After a few groans of complaint, they splashed and spattered off to their first destination.

--

Ryou listened to Masha intently while the little robot spoke,

"…Purin told to go to Tokyo Tower. Mews in danger there! Mews in danger there! Purin sound funny!" Ryou raised an eyebrow,

"Masha, where was this?"

"Minto's mansion! Minto's mansion!" Ryou swiveled to his computer and tapped into Mew Zakuro's pendant. He spoke,

"Zakuro, I need you to investigate Minto's home immediately. Something suspicious is going on around there." A voice soon answered him,

"_I'm on my way_."

--


	5. The Dance of the Distressed

(A.N./

Oh here it is,

It's Chapter Five!

On which the

Reviewers thrive.

Swarming insects can relate;

They're up to my knees

By chapter eight.)

---

Ichigo shoved a damp towel further into the hole in the bathroom wall. She sighed and wiped her sweaty brow as she glanced up at Retasu,

"How many of these water outlets have we plugged?" Retasu put a finger to her lips and thought for a moment before saying,

"Well, counting the hole we plugged back about ten minutes ago, I'd say around ten or fifteen." Ichigo groaned,

"Purin, could you hand me another towel from the cupboard?" Purin danced her way to the bathroom cupboard, grabbed a thick, puffy towel, and danced back to Ichigo,

"Here you go, na do da!" Ichigo thanked her and took the towel. She shoved it in after the last towel and took a step back to admire her work. The hole looked sturdy enough. But she wasn't quite satisfied…

"Minto!" she called, "Could you please hand me toilet plunger?" Minto stuck her nose into the air,

"As if! Like I'd_ ever_ touch that nasty thing!" Ichigo rolled her eyes,

"Purin?"

"I'm on it, na do da!" In a split second, Ichigo found the plunger in her outstretched hand, Purin wearing a goofy smile of self-pride. Ichigo smiled and shoved the plunger lengthwise into the hole to re-enforce the towels. She stood up and motioned for the Mews to follow her,

"Let's get to the next one."

Despite their hard work of trying to stop the water from coming, the flooding wasn't slowing up. The water level continued to rise, and it seemed as though the Mew's valiant efforts were a lost cause. But Ichigo, being the leader of the team, forced a smile and a word or two of encouragement. And so they continued on with their tedious work.

Retasu, now taking the position at the back of the traveling chain of Mews, said,

"Should we begin with the upstairs? I am pretty sure I heard water coming down the stairs quite a bit ago…" Ichigo nodded,

"Sure! Sounds like a good idea!" She shifted the course of the chain and began the descent up the stairs.

The stairs did have water rushing down it. It looked -and sounded- like a giant waterfall. Whether this was a new development or not, Ichigo didn't know; all she wanted was to stop the water. She yelled,

"Everyone, hold onto the handlebars tightly! You can slip easily here!" The Mews obeyed and broke the chain, occupying their hands with gripping the handlebars. They slowly began to inch their way up the staircase, taking care not to slip and fall.

Finally, when they reached the top, Ichigo led them to the right side of the hallway. However, she forgot one crucial thing as they reached the top of the stairs.

They forgot to link hands.

As soon as she had taken a couple of steps, she heard excited splashing and gasping. As soon as she turned, however, there was nothing behind her; only waves and empty air was present where her friends had once been.

She looked around, beginning to panic. The aliens must not have gone in the first place! They would be the only explanation for this! Even after knowing the cause of the disappearance of the Mews, Ichigo was certainly not comforted in the least bit. She bit her tongue and fidgeted with her hands as she glanced around her in panicked jolts.

Slowly, though, she took a step forward. Then another. Then another. She soon found herself walking down the hall in small, cautious steps. She had to find her friends, regardless of who took them and what kind of situation she was in herself. Why didn't the aliens touch her? Was she being targeted?

As she was peering around the edge of what appeared to doorway, she was surprised to see a staircase set back into the wall. Curious to its origins, and hoping to find a clue about her friends, she took a few steps forward and began to ascend the staircase.

The steps were dusty, cracked, and dry. Never before had dry ground sounded so good to Ichigo. Her feet began to dry as she ascended the steps, as well as collected a small amount of dust.

By the time she reached the top, her feet were nice and dry. She blinked and adjusted her eyes to the dark of the room. She soon realized that it wasn't a room; it was an attic. Its massive size appeared to stretch from one end of the house to the other. It was a good thing, too, because the attic was crammed full of dusty, old boxes and trunks. Abandoned furniture and broken chandeliers lay piled on top of shelves or other items, or maybe even set carelessly on the floor. Altogether, the room was packed.

Ichigo was so ever curious to what was in the attic, but then she remembered what she was doing in the first place. She pivoted to walk down the stairs before she spied a big, fancy-looking trunk set off to the side a few feet away. She furrowed her brow and turned to it, walking over. Undoing the latch, she threw it open. She immediately began to cough, though, because of all of the dust that erupted from the trunk when she had opened it. Wiping her eyes, she gazed into it.

Ladies' gowns and dresses were piled high inside it, all neatly folded in with great care. Ichigo gaped and dug her hand into the chest, sifting through all of the dresses of faded color. They all seemed to be evening gowns of some sort, made for a girl of Minto's age. Even though they were obviously very old, they registered to Ichigo as "simply gorgeous".

One of them especially caught her eye as she was rummaging. She yanked it out and held it up to inspect it. It was a flowing, satin, strapless dress, a crisp white in color. A simple red sash was attached to the waist, and small, glittering gemstones embroidered the hem of the top and bottom. It seemed to have lost some of its elegance over the years, but Ichigo still thought it to be beautiful.

She bit her lip when she was reminded, once again, why she was up in the attic. She soon concluded, however, that this would be much better to wear around the mansion then her flimsy pajamas.

So, after glancing around the attic in paranoia of being seen, Ichigo slipped the dress on over her pajamas. She tied the sash around her back and smoothed down the fabric. She scowled at the fact that it didn't quite fit, and that she must have gained weight (Ichigo avoided thinking about her weight as much as possible, though she really didn't have much to worry about in the first place).

She looked around the attic curiously, and her eyes soon rested on a full-length mirror standing in one corner of the attic. She strode over to it and wiped the dust off with the palm of her hand. Once she was finished, she took a step back to examine herself.

The dress, indeed, had a very flowing-like quality to it, and reminded Ichigo of the morning breeze. She twirled around a couple times and discovered the satin felt extremely good on her legs, as well as made the dress look very elegant. She smiled to herself as twirled a second time, facing away from the mirror. She tried to recall any dancing moves she had learned when she had been at the ball with Ryou.

She took a graceful step forward and twirled around, extending her legs to make a ballet jump. She landed gracefully, quite proud of herself. Cat abilities do have their perks.

She twirled in the other direction, music played in her head as she stepped lightly across the room in a simple dance. The dress felt wonderful, and Ichigo felt so at ease. She closed her eyes and sighed, extending her arm and lifting it above her like she had seen Minto do. Of course, Minto was much more graceful and beautiful than Ichigo could ever hope to be, but she was proud of herself, nonetheless.

She hesitated her dancing, though, when she felt a hand intertwine with hers. She didn't open her eyes, though, because she already knew perfectly well who it was. A second hand slunk around her waist and she felt the heat of another body. Instead of pulling away or yelling, though, she sighed and repeated as she had done with Ryou, placing her arm loosely around his shoulder.

She continued to dance as he took the lead, both of them striding across the attic. Ichigo found herself stepping on his foot once or twice, and his balance would falter occasionally, but that was fine with her. I mean, they weren't perfect, were they? Ichigo just wanted to enjoy a calm, graceful moment outside the chaos of what was going on around her.

And so, when Ichigo felt herself being dipped low, she finally snapped to her senses. It registered in her mind that she had just been dancing.

With Kisshu.

In a dress.

Alone.

A blush slowly crept to her face when she felt hot breath on her ear. He spoke in rushed, quiet tones,

"Pai and Taruto are waiting to ambush you farther ahead in the hall, and torture you for information. Get as far away from this floor as possible, and watch where you step. There is a huge pipe that is gushing water in the kitchen; block that and the water levels will slow considerably." Ichigo nodded solemnly, repeating the information over in her head as not to forget. Kisshu slowly backed off from her ear and lifted her back onto her feet.

"Wait," Ichigo said, "Why did you tell me this? Didn't you want to kill me?" Kisshu looked at her with a bemusing smirk. He answered only in a simple word,

"No."

Then, he was gone. Ichigo, now quite shaken at the idea of an ambush waiting to happen, ran down the attic stairs and flew across the hallway. Her feet made a quiet pitter-pat as she stepped quickly down the stairs. Looking ahead, though, she saw that the water had already reached five feet deep or so, covering the first three stairs.

She debated with herself whether to try and swim or to find some kind of boat when she heard a muffled,

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" followed by a crash of breaking glass. Ichigo's face brightened when the doors to her right slammed open and Zakuro emerged.

"Zakuro-san!" Ichigo called, "I'm so glad you're here!" Zakuro looked up in surprise,

"Ichigo?" Ichigo ran over and tackle-hugged Zakuro,

"Zakuro, you've got to help! The aliens took the rest of the Mews, and I don't know where! One minute they were there and the next they were gone!" Zakuro grimaced at the news and touched her pendant, speaking to Ryou,

"Suspicions confirmed, Mew Lettuce, Pudding, and Minto have disappeared. Ichigo is fine, but the house is flooded. I'm going to investigate."

"_Rodger_." came Ryou's voice. Zakuro half-smiled at Ichigo,

"Well, you're alright, at least." Her face soon became stiff again, though, "What else do you know?"

"Well," Ichigo said, "I just found out that Pai and Taruto are at the end of the hall on the right, waiting to ambush me. From what I heard, they want to torture me for information or something…"

Zakuro didn't prod any further then that. Ichigo watched in awe as she moved swiftly and quickly to the end of the hall. She was temped to follow, but she remembered Kisshu's warning and kept at the sidelines, craning her neck to try to see what was going on.

Soon she heard the zap of electricity and Zakuro's counter-attack with her whip. Bright lights shined out of the last room of the hall. She heard the sounds of weapons clashing and Zakuro calling, "Ribbon Zakuro Spear!". The urge to get into the room and get a bird's-eye view of the battle was overwhelming for Ichigo; her curiosity was getting the best of her. She just simply _longed_ to see what was going on. She was the Mew leader; she could watch, right? She could stay out of trouble, right? I mean, honestly, she didn't have to be babysat all the time. She just wanted to get a quick peek…

Before she was fully conscious of it, Ichigo felt her feet moving in a rhythmic manner under her. She was taking small steps towards the battle in the hallway, taking her time to reach her destination. She slowly began to move, one step at a time. She still wasn't fully conscious; her senses felt dull and numb. Something inside her thrashed about and screamed for her to stop, but she didn't. It was like she was under a spell, or in a trance.

She counted her steps aloud in a small whisper.

"…_nine…ten…eleven…" _

"_Ichigo_!"

The voice sounded distant to her, unidentifiable. She continued to take another step…and another…

"Ichigo! LOOK OUT!"

She snapped out of her daze just in time to feel a hand pull her away from the streak of bright yellow lightning that flew past her face. She turned to see Zakuro, panting, and looking both angry and worried. She growled,

"What do you think you're doing?!" Ichigo only shook her head,

"I…I don't know…" She soon felt Zakuro push her out of the way, once again, to avoid a blue lightning bolt. She landed on the ground, but stood up slowly. Zakuro spoke again in a monotone,

"Get down to the first story. Now." Ichigo began to panic,

"But Zakuro, I'm not very good at swimming! I'll drown for sure!" Zakuro shook her head,

"Ichigo, could you please try?" Ichigo sighed and nodded, leaping out of the way of another attack. She charged down the stairs and waded into the water, wincing at the temperature and the amount of debris involved.

Farther and farther she went in, and, when she took a step off the stairs, she felt herself immersed in water. Her foot caught on something she perceived to be a fancy, carved dining table. Her foot was wedged in one of the cut designs. It ached, and Ichigo tried desperately to pull her foot out. She was needlessly exhausting herself, and she knew it. She gave a final tug, then gave out on herself. She felt the water seep farther over her, and tried to gasp for air, but only swallowed a mouthful of dirty water.

The last thing she remembered was a splash from the water above her, and a fervent tug at her arm.

Then, everything went black.

---


	6. Reinforcements

(A.N./

Chapter Six,

Oh what a sight!

Chapter Six,

All shining bright!

All the readers

Will still want more!

I swear to type

'Till my fingers are sore.

Big chapter, guys! Sorry about the wait. I hope you enjoy the special treat! I was super-happy about the amount of reviews I got; you guys rock! Thank you so much!)

---

Once Ichigo was fully conscious, she immediately began choking up water. She coughed it out in huge amounts, and groped at her throat, half in desperation to breathe, and half because she was in pain.

She suddenly felt an impact of someone's hand on her back. Once. Twice. Three times. Each time she was choking up more water. Eventually she took a gasp for air. She thought of herself as a fish out of water, gasping for what isn't there. She eventually gained control and began to breathe in heavy, shuddering sighs. Her skin felt cold and clammy; her whole body felt numb and breakable, like dry pasta, so brittle that it could snap in a simple motion. She closed her eyes and opened them, clutching her arms around herself to regain her tranquility, and maybe even her sanity.

What had compelled her to get right into the water like that? She knew perfectly well she wasn't the best of swimmers, didn't she? Then she thought about the lightning bolts being shot at her, feeling so helpless, and Zakuro's panicked glare at her, her voice commanding her to get in the water.

She shuddered once more. A voice spoke from behind her,

"I thought I'd never say this, kitten, but you're an idiot."

Ichigo's head shot up and she whirled around to face Kisshu, who was sitting cross-legged behind her. She gave him the innocent kitty eyes that she usually used on Masaya, or Ryou when she tried to get a raise. It took effect immediately. He put his face in his hands, avoiding eye contact,

"Forget I said that. Sorry." He ran his hand through his hair and braved looking into her eyes, obviously trying to maintain his composure. He clenched his teeth, not in anger, but frustration, "I thought I told you to stay out of trouble! I come back to look for you not two minutes later, and you're getting yourself drowned!" Ichigo hung her head. The guilt pressed heavily on her, heavy enough so that she wanted to sink into the ground under the weight and disappear for a while. She muttered a simple word,

"Sorry." Kisshu groaned and put his head in his hands once again, shaking it as well,

"Honestly, I can't stay angry at you for long, can I, kitten?"

Full realization of her position washed over Ichigo like a tremendous wave when she surveyed her surroundings. It was an unfamiliar room, that was for sure. Elegantly designed furniture lined the walls of the massive bedroom, all of which included a dresser, vanity, desk, closet, shoe rack, and all sorts of furniture of the type. What Ichigo marveled at most, though, was the four-post, canopy bed she was sitting on. It's light and fluffy bedding felt good on her wet skin. She smiled a bit,

"I'll take a guess that this is Minto's second bedroom?" Kisshu snickered,

"Yeah, she uses this one as a spare when she wets her other bed." Ichigo giggled a bit, then broke out in a violent coughing fit. She clenched her throat desperately, and Kisshu was instantly hovering over her, inspecting her face, eyes, everything. He took Ichigo's free hand and examined it, only to find it shaking. She calmed down a bit and cleared her throat before breathing a sigh through her nose,

"I think I caught something…I feel terrible." Kisshu placed the back of his hand against her forehead,

"Are you guys supposed to feel this warm?"

"Not usually."

"Then it seems you've, indeed, caught something." Ichigo grunted and flopped back down on the bed. The cold fabric of the dress clung to her skin; it felt wet and uncomfortable. Kisshu noticed her picking at the back of her dress and remarked with a smirk,

"You know, you would probably feel much better if you took your clothes off…"

Ichigo would've definitely smacked him, kicked him, or done something nasty of the sort if she didn't feel so weak. She could only groan,

"Kisshu, this is no time to be a pervert." He sighed and shrugged,

"Well, I can't say I didn't try…" Ichigo scowled angrily,

"Get out, _please_."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," he said with a smug smirk, "Until either Pai and Taruto are defeated, or you are physically well, I'm afraid I can't leave this room." Ichigo sat up and furrowed her brow,

"Says who?"

"Says me," Kisshu replied with a widened smirk. Ichigo groaned.

"Hey," Kisshu remarked holding up his hands as if declaring a truce. He was declaring some kind of peace, that was for sure. He went on, "I'm only staying here 'cause your not feeling well. It's for your own good." Ichigo swallowed a cough with a bit of difficulty,

"If you're really that worried, you'll do yourself a favor and get out." Kisshu sighed,

"I TOLD you, Pai or Taruto could come in, and you-"

"If you're so worried, then, get my pendant! You must know where it is!" Kisshu thought for a moment before shaking his head,

"Even if I did, you still wouldn't be able to defend yourself in that state." Ichigo scowled at past memories that boiled to the surface. She hissed,

"Yeah, learned that lesson when you chased me clear out of my house a week or so ago." Kisshu laughed nervously,

"Hey, you wouldn't surrender! It was your fault that time!"

"Well you didn't have to attack me in the first place!"

"Yes I did, I'm under orders, you know!"

"By who?"

"Classified information."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his sudden stone face. She growled,

"Okay, how about this. Where's the rest of the Mews?" Kisshu shrugged nonchalantly,

"Classified information." She concluded he wasn't about to spill anything secretive at the moment, and sunk back down into the fluffy covers to wait for him to loosen up. Kisshu just sat hovering, legs crossed in the air, simply watched her. It started to irritate Ichigo when she could feel his eyes boring into her skull. She turned in the bed to glare at him,

"Get out." He put on a mock innocent face and pretended to pick his ear,

"Hm…déjà vu!" Ichigo groaned,

"Look, could you at least find something else to do instead of provoking me? Go try on some shoes in that massive walk-in closet, how about that?"

"How do you know it's walk-in?" Kisshu asked curiously. He was obviously trying to dodge the order. Ichigo shrugged,

"Wild guess." Kisshu got out of his sitting position and flew over to the door of the closet. He opened it and peered inside.

"You're right," he said, "It's about as big as your room!" Ichigo scowled at Kisshu's acquired knowledge about her room,

"See? Now, go make yourself occupied."

Kisshu looked from her, to the closet, then back to her. He sighed in defeat and flew in, closing the door behind him.

---

Zakuro was struggling, to say the least. Two against one wasn't much of a fair fight. No matter how hard she tried to aim or capture one of the aliens, they would dodge and teleport, then counter-attack her. She would dodge the counter-attack, and so on and so forth. It was a stupid and pointless battle in her opinion, and she was getting rather bored and tired.

While dodging another lightning bolt, the heat grazed her cheek slightly and left a burn mark. Zakuro fingered it gingerly as she landed on her feet. Well, that was very _exciting._

This feud was getting to be a last-resort situation, a place where she should try and duck out by any means. The battle was beginning to have strain on either parties; she could read the alien's faces to confirm her theory. Soon enough, she would be too tired to fight. She thrust her spear forward, aiming an attack,

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

However, it didn't get anywhere near the aliens. She never meant for it to. She had just opened a hole into the alien dimension: a last resort escape hole.

She jumped forward into the hole and brought her spear in behind her, closing it neatly before the aliens could follow.

Pai cursed under his breath and Taruto looked ready to scream. They both exchanged glances and teleported to where they guessed that Mew Zakuro was.

Where the captive Mews were being kept.

Their dimension.

---

The time was 3:41 A.M.

Outside the mansion, the thunderstorm raged on, winds shrieking and howling as they blew around houses, trees, cars, and any obstructions in its path. A peal of thunder reverberated after a bolt of lightning, sounding with a deafening crash.

Across the street, a figure in a blue cloak raced across the road. His low, blonde ponytail flew out behind him as he ran at an incredible speed. Within seconds, he stopped at a window of the dark, enormous mansion, peering inside curiously.

All he could see was murky water and objects floating in the water. It reminded him of a giant, dirty fish tank of sorts. He raised his eyebrows momentarily before taking a few steps backward.

With incredible force, he launched himself forward and smashed into the top portion of the window. He landed in the water with a splash. He got up quickly, however, and used a nearby, floating desk to jump on, and propel himself off of. He sailed through the air and landed on the dry land of the staircase.

He looked back to observe the water level; it was gaining fast. He pondered over how to safely dispose of all of it without spilling it into the streets, losing furniture, or hurting anybody that might be swept up in the wave. He shook his head and turned away. He would figure out a solution at a latter time.

For now, though, his mind was set on his simple mission: rescue Ichigo.

He was, after all, the Blue Knight; that was solely his job.

---

Ichigo pulled the light blue blouse over her head and gave a tug at the skirt she was wearing. Being Minto's, it was uncomfortably short on her. She had resorted to a pair of leggings, but she still didn't like the choice of clothes provided in the dresser. She eyed the closet, wondering if anything more would be in there. She called,

"Kisshu! You can come out now!"

She waited a bit. No answer. She called again, taking a step forward,

"Kisshu? Is this some kind of joke?"

Still no answer. She shrugged it off and opened the closet door, half-expecting him to jump out and tackle her. The massive closet was empty, though.

Kisshu was right; the closet was as big as her room. The walls were lined with shelves and shelves of shoes and accessories, not to mention the long line of clothes on hangers all along the east and west walls. She stepped in, examining the various places under the long rack of clothes, and opening shelves. She was acting like a kid playing hide-and-go-seek in a clothing store, checking all of the small places to make sure who you were looking for wasn't there, although they would be much to big to fit.

Ichigo stooped down on hands and knees to peer into a shoe shelf near the floor. Seeing no one there, she got up again, dusting herself off. She walked out of the closet, wondering what to do next since Kisshu was gone. She should have gotten more information out of him, really; she knew in the back of her mind that Ryou would have yelled at her if he found out she wasn't trying to rip Kisshu's guts out with her bare hands.

Something clicked in her brain.

Ryou.

…Zakuro.

Ichigo remembered Zakuro fighting out in the halls. In a sudden burst of energy, she rushed across the room, threw open the door, and dashed out into the hallway. She looked left, then right. The hallway was completely empty.

Over the rushing of water, though, she heard a crash, and the clanging of metal against metal. A yell sounded out from what Ichigo thought was…Minto's first bedroom?

There were only a few people Ichigo knew that yelled when they attacked. It didn't sound like a Mew, either. None of the Mews had metal weapons, and the only other people who _did _use a sword were…

Ichigo gasped.

Not thinking through her actions thoroughly, Ichigo dashed across the hallway and rounded the corner in the doorway of the room. She skidded to a stop and gazed in.

She had guessed right.

In a death lock, glaring at one another through clenched teeth, was none other than Kisshu and the Blue Knight. The malice in Kisshu's eyes could melt steel, and the Blue Knight's eyes stayed cold and hard, free of any emotion.

Kisshu took a chance of ducking out of the lock. He jumped out and somersaulted over the Blue Knight's head, taking a slash at his back with a sword. The Blue Knight saw his motions, though, and, with precision timing, whirled around and lashed out, bringing the blunt end of his sword against Kisshu's chin. Ichigo grimaced as she saw Kisshu's eyes widen dramatically. He took a sharp intake of breath, before he steadied himself once more, swords at the ready, anticipating his opponent's move.

Ichigo had had enough already. She yelled,

"Blue Knight!" She was trying to divert his attention. His sapphire eyes flickered to her momentarily, but automatically focused back to the fight. She tried once more,

"Blue Knight, listen to me! He wasn't doing me any harm!" This time, the Blue Knight held her gaze for a moment longer. He glanced to Kisshu, who had on a stone face, out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo continued, "Please help me find the rest of my friends! The house is flooding, and I can't find a way out." The Blue Knight nodded, relaxing his position a bit,

"This was his doing," he said, meaning Kisshu, "I am just trying to cure the source before working with the aftermath." Ichigo was beginning to disagree with his battle strategies. She put on a determined look and continued,

"Please, Blue Knight, could you find my friends first? They could be powerful allies if you were to find their pendants." The Blue Knight sighed wistfully,

"Ichigo, please understand. He may do something to you while I am gone…"

"I have a name, you know!" Kisshu growled, interrupting him from his side of the room, "…and didn't you hear her? She SAID she doesn't want you to fight me! So take her advice and piss off!"

Ichigo clenched her teeth.

Kisshu - always there to be the loudmouth.

The Blue Knight didn't look too pleased. He merely shot another glance at Ichigo before stepping forward in a tremendous swing of his sword towards Kisshu. He saw it and teleported at the right moment, strategically placing himself behind the Blue Knight. Before the Blue Knight could react, Kisshu knocked him over the head with the blunt end of _his_ sword. As the Blue Knight stumbled forward, clutching his head with a hand, Kisshu wore a cocky smirk that simply stated, 'Payback'.

Ichigo was mad. No, she was beyond mad. She was furious. BOTH boys had ignored her request to quit fighting, and were now engaging in a contest of what she interpreted as "who gets the last strike before Ichigo snaps". It was too late for that game now; Ichigo already had snapped.

"STOP IT!" she yelled. Both boys looked up and eyed her curiously. She clenched her hands into fists, "Honestly, I'm giving a simple order here. Two words. Stop. Fighting. Is it really that…_difficult_?!" she pronounced the last word through clenched teeth. She took a few steps forward into the room. Kisshu blinked, then his face split into a grin. He obviously loved seeing her angry.

"Apparently so," he stated cheekily. The Blue Knight remained calm through the ordeal, following Ichigo's movements as she strode across the room.

With one swift movement, Ichigo brought her arm back, tightened her fist, and slammed it across Kisshu's face in one hard punch.

A look of mild amusement flashed across the Blue Knight's eyes. How was she, Ichigo, in normal, human form, (and sick, no less) able to do more damage to Kisshu than he had? It was one of those concepts in life that he had yet to learn: the relationship between an over-confident boy and an angry girl.

Ichigo massaged her wrist. She muttered,

"Sorry. I've wanted to do that for a while now." Kisshu, face turned towards the floor, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He straightened up slowly, he face remained fixed-forward and blank. The Blue Knight tensed, bracing for an attack.

Instead of being angry with Ichigo, though, Kisshu did something totally different.

He laughed.

It started off as a chuckle, but turned into a full, wild laughing fit. He clutched his sides wearily as he tried to recover; he even collapsed to the floor on one knee and started to wipe his eyes.

Ichigo just stared, bewildered, wondering if Kisshu had gone crazy. An equally perplexed emotion passed across the Blue Knight's face.

Kisshu's laugh began to die off into suppressed giggles.

Finally, he stood up and grinned at Ichigo,

"Heh, I really like you, Ichigo, you know that? Especially when you're angry!" Ichigo glowered at him resentfully, disappointed she hadn't delivered the right message to him as far as his attitude goes.

It was like punishing a misbehaving kindergartener. You have to tell them over and over not to do something before they stop for good. Even then, they'll still play with their food, rip books, pick their nose, and color on their bedroom wall. It's just the thing kindergarteners do. Misbehave.

It was just the thing that Kisshu does.

Misbehave.

Ichigo opened her mouth to argue, but the Blue Knight cut her off,

"I believe we have a battle to finish, Kisshu." Kisshu nodded, still grinning,

"I believe so!" Ichigo growled in protest,

"If any one of you dare lay a finger on the other, I swear, I'll jump in the furniture-infested lake on the first story!" Both boys remained silent. Ichigo put on a smug face. That did it. Neither of them would touch each other if Ichigo would practically commit suicide after.

Kisshu's solemn face twisted into a smirk as he turned to lock eyes with Ichigo.

"Well, then, I guess there's only one thing left to do!"

Ichigo felt something move behind her. Before she knew it, Kisshu had sprung off the ground like some kind of cat and pushed her in with him through a teleporting hole he had opened up behind her. She fell into the hole in what seemed to be slow-motion; her whole body felt like jell-o as she went through, Kisshu still having a firm grip on her shoulders. He hugged her closer suddenly, and Ichigo realized he was preparing to lift her once gravity had taken hold once more. Before she could feel solid again, however, she saw a flash of blue and gold coming through the portal.

The Blue Knight had followed them in.

---


	7. Turned Tables

(A.N./

"Chapter Seven"

"Reviewer Heaven"

It's all the same

When called by name

Take your pick!

You're probably sick

Of my bad rhyme

But in time

It'll grow on you!

Don't believe me?

Yeah, me too.

-

I'm not quite satisfied with this chapter for some reason. Maybe it's because it's not as long? Anyway, I'm racking my brain to figure out a twist to this story that will give it a longer lifespan than it's looking up to right now. Any ideas? Criticism? I gladly accept any input from you guys! Anyway, enjoy the chapter!)

---

Gravity hit like a bullet. Ichigo felt herself gain her weight back in a millisecond, and she heard Kisshu grunt under the burden of her weight. He eventually resorted to flipping her up in his arms bridal-style, and that's when Ichigo got a good look at her surroundings.

The alien's dimension was like she had remembered from her rescue mission to recapture Masha. They were not in a room, though. It was out in the open space of the swirling, green void surrounding them, with dozens of stone pillars scattered across the landscape. A stone platform stood in the middle, and a large screen was projected onto a stone wall; a control system stood before it.

She barely had time to take in the scenery before Kisshu had whirled himself -and Ichigo- around to face the Blue Knight.

The Blue Knight's expression wasn't anger…or frustration. It was a solemn face. His eyes were his expression. They were cold and hard, brittle as stone. That was his way of expressing anger, if he didn't show it on his face. Kisshu took note of this and smirked. A weakness had just been discovered,

"Hmph, it seems when I have Ichigo with me, you can't touch me, ne?"

Ichigo scowled. She certainly did NOT like the concept of being used as a human shield, nevertheless, _Kisshu's _human shield. She growled,

"I'm not some inanimate object! Put me down!" Kisshu's smirk widened,

"Are you sure you want me to do that?" He loosened his grip on Ichigo, and she stole a nervous glance towards the empty, green space below them. She shifted her position nervously,

"Um…maybe I changed my mind…"

"Drop her."

Both Kisshu and Ichigo looked up to the Blue Knight, who was positioned a few meters away. Ichigo shook her head rapidly,

"No, no, no, no! Don't drop me!" Kisshu only gripped her tighter to himself, much to Ichigo's relief…and displeasure. He spoke,

"I'm not _that_ stupid, you know. You'll just catch her once I let go of her." The Blue Knight's face turned stone again. Apparently he had underestimated his adversary, was constructing a new battle plan, or both.

Ichigo was getting a bit peeved about being treated like an object, as was Kisshu's habit of doing. So she made it known.

"Would you listen to me?!" she growled at Kisshu, "Look, just because I don't have my pendant, doesn't mean I'm just some object or pet! I'm not some useless rag doll you can throw around! Now, you can just hand me over to the Blue Knight, go back to wherever you came from, _and leave me alone_!" Kisshu sat there for a moment, staring into her angry eyes, before blankly replying,

"It's not that simple."

"Yes it is! Just hand me over to him, and you'll be done!"

The Blue Knight watched the conversation anxiously, looking for an opportunity to rescue Ichigo or annihilate Kisshu. Either would prove success for him.

"Do you know what Pai would say if I handed you over to him?" Kisshu hissed.

"Do you know what Pai would say if he saw you with me?!" Ichigo contradicted. She was getting the hang of arguing with him.

"Exactly my point!" Kisshu said, "Either way it's a lose-lose situation, so I'd rather go with the choice where I can _keep_ you and avoid Pai's nagging speech later!"

Ichigo was silent, simply glaring into his eyes as a defiant response.

Suddenly, the Blue Knight spoke up,

"If you're finished, I'd like to get on with our fight, Kisshu." Kisshu lifted his head from the arguing and smirked in response,

"Gladly! I need to filter some anger; bring it on!"

He flew over to a floating pillar and set Ichigo down on top of it. She looked panicked because of the distance from where she sat to the ground. Kisshu brushed her flushed cheek lightly with his fingertips before turning to the Blue Knight, Dragon Swords at the ready with a flash of light.

---

Zakuro sprinted down the stone halls of the alien's dimension. She stole a quick glance behind her at the three Mews who were following. They were all full of energy and determination to get the heck out of the place. No harm had been done to them, but all the same, it wasn't the best way to spend your night: being stuck in your enemy's home, in pajamas, without being able to defend yourself.

They rounded a corner and came to a small, cramped room without much light. Various machines and tables were lined against the walls, some of the devices emitting eerie noises.

On one of the tables, Zakuro spotted the missing pendants, one of which was attached to a device with cords and wires plugged into one of the flashing machines.

"There!" she yelled, "Hurry, transform! Try and find your pendant!" The Mews rushed over to the table and fumbled with the pendants, trying to transform with each one. The first one with success was Purin, who found her match in one go,

"Mew Mew Pudding! Metamorphosis!" With a flash of light, she had transformed. She giggled and danced about the room in delight.

Minto switched pendants with Retasu and kissed it. It lit up, and she cried,

"Mew Mew Minto! Metamorphosis!" With another flash of light, blue in color, Minto was now transformed, and admiring her wings as if they had gone missing for months on end. Retasu fumbled with hers and kissed it. She yelled,

"Mew Mew Lettuce! Metamorphosis!" Soon, she joined the transformed Mews. They looked curiously at the remaining pendant, strung up with all sorts of wires. Pudding hesitantly reached her hand towards it, like it would get up and bite her. She grabbed it and yanked it away from the wires, snapping them in the process. The ends of the cords sparked a little, but the pendant was safe. Pudding sighed in relief.

"Come on," said Zakuro, "We have to get back to Ichigo as soon as possible!" They ran out the door, one after the other, only to almost run into two bodies blocking the hall. Pai and Taruto. They both scowled at them as Pai spoke,

"You're not going anywhere."

With that, he raised his hand and summoned a blue parasite. He took out a pink orb, someone's spirit, from his pants pocket, and fused them together.

In a blinding display of light, a chimera animal appeared before them all. It resembled a giant, walking shark, with hind legs like a dinosaur. Its sharp teeth looked menacing as it screamed in a deafening cry. Pai ordered the giant beast forward,

"Go! Chimera Animal!"

The Mews clenched their weapons at the ready, and awaited the attack. The monster sprung up on its enormous hind legs and lunged for them. They all dodged the attack, scattering in various places throughout the hall. Zakuro aimed her weapon,

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" It was a direct hit, and she got a good hold on the giant chimera animal by her whip-like weapon. She yelled,

"Minto, Lettuce, now!" They nodded and called their attacks,

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

Both of the attacks hit, and the beast screeched and flailed its head, freeing itself from the Zakuro Spear. It lunged at it's attackers: Minto and Lettuce. They both saw it charging, and jumped out of the way, one to the right, one to the left. Lettuce jumped back and tripped over something, landing on her backside. She realized she was in the room where they got the pendants from, and rose from the floor.

But, before she could take a step, the stone door shut in front of her, and she was left in the dark with the beeping machinery. With wide, scared eyes, she looked left and right, then walked to the door. She tried to pull it open, but her efforts were in vain; the door staid firmly shut. She tried pounding on it, but its stone structure, like the rest of the buildings in the dimension, was completely solid. She aimed her weapons at the door, and yelled,

"Ribbon Lettuce Rush!"

The enormous wave crashed down on the door, but did no damage, and swept back in a rebound toward Lettuce. She screamed a bit when she found herself doused in her own watery attack. The machinery buzzed gradually louder and louder before she heard a zap, and all of the power went dead.

She whimpered and collapsed on her knees, feeling the damp floor.

_What now?_

---

Ichigo was beginning to feel worse and worse by the second.

Her hair had finally finished drying, but she still felt cold. Her whole body shivered and twitched, and she felt tired, not just from sickness, but lack of sleep. She knew, though, that if she fell asleep now, she would topple off the pillar she was on and into the green abyss below her. She groaned. For now, she would have to stand the cold and tiredness and just wait out the battle before her.

The two boys were slashing at each other furiously, always attacking and dodging, attacking and dodging. However, the only one that seemed to be giving in was Kisshu, who looked absolutely furious at the frustration of missing the Blue Knight over and over. It was beginning to effect his fighting, too; his swipes at the Blue Knight were looking more and more violent and messy.

"How can you have so much power?!" Kisshu yelled to the Blue Knight as he ducked his head to avoid his rival's sword. The Blue Knight didn't respond. Kisshu was in no mood for the "ask a question I won't answer" game. He yelled,

"Come on, say something! Where do you get your power from?!" He swung his swords at the Blue Knight, once again missing by a hair. The Blue Knight only sighed, giving no response. Kisshu growled and charged towards him, swords outstretched. The Blue Knight got out of his range of attack, and Kisshu maintained defensive mode once again.

Just then, Ichigo took a deep breath. Before she could stop herself, she gave a loud sneeze. She tumbled backwards off the pillar and fell with a shriek. Both boys called,

"Ichigo!"

The Blue Knight was the first to react. He dove towards her and caught her about fifty feet down from where she had fallen. Ichigo shuddered in her cold and clung onto his jacket, burying her face in the warmth of his chest. Kisshu growled,

"We're not done here!" The Blue Knight shot him a glare, and spoke for the first time in a while,

"Ichigo is hurt. This battle is over." Kisshu shut his mouth and remained silent, his face morphing into one of frustration and pity. The Blue Knight shot him another despaired look before flying quickly in the opposite direction, toward the stone structures of the dimension.

Kisshu snapped out of his daze of thought and began to pursue them, flying after as fast as he could manage. They weren't getting away, Ichigo or no Ichigo.

---


	8. Panic in the Alien Dimension

(A.N./

This is Chapter Eight…

I'm sick of stupid poems.

Instead, a haiku.)

---

Lettuce got up from her position on the floor. After a bit of tears and angst, she had concluded that sitting on the floor moping wasn't the way to get things done.

She walked over to one of the desks. Maybe she could do a little bit of spying while she was here. She might as well make herself of some kind of use.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a small desk lamp on one corner of the desk. She prayed that it would work, and, when she flicked the switch, she found it in perfect condition. She sighed in relief, glad to be out of the dark of the eerie room. She powered down to her normal self.

Retasu examined the desk and pulled open a random drawer. A stack of papers was buried inside, but she didn't recognize any of the runic-looking symbols written on them. She mused at Pai's bilingual skills, and pulled open a second drawer.

Inside was a mess of pens, more small papers, and a small, leather book. She cocked her head to the side curiously and took out the book. She opened to the first page, and was relieved to see that it was in Japanese. It read,

_Mission to Earth: Day One_

_Arrived right on time to make a grand entrance, and set that idiot Kisshu straight. He needs work. All should be going well, and I plan to exterminate the Mews by next week. _

Retasu smiled a bit, amused at the fact that Pai keeps a diary. She corrected herself, however, and thought, '_journal_ not _diary_.' She flipped to the next page.

_Mission to Earth: Day Two_

_I came in visual contact with the Mews today. They look easy to defeat. Kisshu should be ashamed of himself. The leader of them, the one with red hair, looks so dim-witted. The green-haired one would make a better leader for sure. At least she has some brains in her head._

Retasu blushed a bit, flipping to the next page excitedly.

_He noticed me…_

---

With a rush of yellow, blue, and red, the Blue Knight jumped across the alien dimension with tremendous bounds, taking dozens of meters at a time. Kisshu was following after, and gaining as the seconds ticked by.

Ichigo stole a quick glance behind her, and, after seeing how close Kisshu was to them, whispered urgently to the Blue Knight,

"Can you go any faster? He's gaining on us!" The Blue Knight simply replied,

"Have no worries. I will protect you."

Ichigo was grateful for his assistance, and all of the times he had saved her life, but the way he avoided questions and gave indirect answers was starting to get to her a bit.

She glanced behind her again. Kisshu was even nearer this time. She knew that he wouldn't risk shooting the Blue Knight down, because he could easily hit her. The risks were way too high.

Of course, when did the risks actually stop Kisshu from doing what he wants? Ichigo shuddered -not only from cold- and shrunk back into the Blue Knight's coat. She soon felt the air rushing past faster than before, and knew that the Blue Knight had heeded her request to quicken his pace.

However, shortly after, she began hearing strange buzzing-like noises from behind her. Turning, she saw that Kisshu was also quickening his pace by teleporting several meters forward again and again.

She turned her head to face forward again, and saw the commotion taking place in a tunnel-like, stone hall located a hundred or so meters ahead of them. She gasped when she got a closer look. It was the rest of the Mews, all transformed. They were battling a giant, shark-like chimera animal from what she could see.

But something seemed out of place with the scene that they were approaching. Ichigo counted the Mews off and found one of them to be missing. She counted again and raised her eyebrows.

Where was Lettuce?

It wasn't long before the Blue Knight and she were touching down on the ground. As soon as they had, Ichigo felt herself being dropped, and the Blue Knight's coat brush against her face as he turned to face Kisshu.

She looked to the rest of the Mews and yelled to them,

"Guys! Are you okay?!" She immediately regretted trying to yell, though, as she soon broke out in a coughing fit. She clutched her throat and let out coughing barks in random spasms, occasionally adding in a wheezing breath.

The first to react from the Mews was Pudding, who came bounding over to Ichigo, yelling excitedly,

"Ichigo onee-chan! You're safe, na do da!" Ichigo nodded and took another gasp of air. Pudding frowned, wondering over her companion's condition. Not too long after, the chimera animal also noticed the activity and new arrivals, and emitted a great roar. The Blue Knight turned back to them at the alarming sound.

From the other side of the room, Zakuro threw the lone pendant to them, yelling,

"Ichigo, transform!" Ichigo didn't quite catch the pendant as it sailed across the room, but Pudding made a lucky save and handed it to Ichigo. She took it gratefully and said,

"Mew Mew Strawberry! Metamorphosis!"

She waited for a second, but nothing happened. She furrowed her brow and tried again, crying out in a louder, raspy voice,

"Mew Mew Strawberry! Metamorphosis!" Still, nothing happened. She let out a confused groan and looked to the rest of the Mews. They shook their heads in disbelief, not knowing what to do. Pai chucked darkly from the other side of the room. All eyes turned to him, and the chimera animal let out a growl of impatience, awaiting orders. Pai spoke,

"Your pendant is not working, am I correct?" Ichigo clenched her teeth and nodded slowly. A smirk curled in the corner of Pai's mouth, "Then all is in order. I purposefully disabled it to do research on its power. Until it is reversed, it will remain dead."

The Mews gasped, and Ichigo stared at her golden pendant worryingly. How could they possibly turn it back? Unless Ryou or Keiichiro operated on it, they had no chance of powering it again. Even then, the chances would be slim. Only Pai knew exactly how the pendant could regain its power, and he certainly wasn't going to be helping them any time soon.

Pudding, who was getting quite impatient in the silence, mumbled what was on all of the Mew's minds,

"What now, na do da?"

---

_Mission to Earth: Day Forty-Seven_

_We had a Mew Aqua signal today, and investigated the location to find an imitation Mew Aqua with similar properties. Kisshu, once again acting on his own, fused the substance with several parasite animals, and manufactured a huge chimera animal. There being only three Mews there, we thought we could easily defeat them. The other two joined soon, and the odds were against us. They eventually overpowered us, and we left in defeat._

_They are all staying at one of their houses, and we plan to ambush them tonight, and pick them off one by one. I am going to experiment on their pendants, starting with Mew Ichigo's.*_

_*see blueprints located in top right desk drawer_

Retasu figured this was the last journal entry, and turned the page to see it was blank. Curious, she arose from her spot on the floor and opened the top right drawer in the desk. A sheet of blueprints was placed there neatly on the top. Retasu took them out and set them on the desk surface under the light.

She examined the diagrams and equations quizzically. On closer inspection, she began to understand what they meant. They were about the study of their pendant, and how to extract the power from them. She read on, carefully interpreting all of the equations and notes.

She thought about the pendant that she saw attached to the wires. That must be the one they were experimenting on. The power would be gone from it, then. She scanned the page lightly, searching for a certain keyword. She caught sight of it, and began to read the paragraph…

_Reversing the power drainage: Diagram 1_

_---_

Pai took action immediately when he saw the open opportunity. He called,

"Chimera animal! Kill her first!" The chimera animal, hungry for the hunt, seemed excited for something to do, and let out an echoing roar before charging. The Blue Knight caught Ichigo up in his arms and carried her out of harm's way with a few super-sized leaps to the right. Taruto sat, bewildered, and Kisshu yelled from across the room,

"Pai, how come I didn't know this?!" Pai simply shook his head and watched the show.

The rest of the Mews sprung into action and lashed out on the chimera animal with their attacks. Minto weakened and blinded the beast with her Minto Arrow; then Pudding used her Pudding Ring to seal it up inside the jell-o-like substance. Once the Mews had a breather again, they heard Ichigo call,

"Guys, where's Lettuce?!" The Mews looked around themselves, expecting her to be there, but they saw no trace of her anywhere. Even the aliens looked confused at the disappearance.

Minto turned behind her and spied the closed door of the room that they had come out of. She called,

"I think she's in here!" She fired her Minto Echo at the door, and they heard the crash of a direct hit. When the smoke cleared, however, they saw that they had just chipped away at the stone structure of the sturdy door.

The chimera animal finally broke out of Pudding's Pudding Ring, and lashed its huge, finned tail at the Mews, knocking them cleanly off their feet. The Blue Knight skillfully picked the sleeping Ichigo up and dodged in time to avoid the swing.

Kisshu spied the Blue Knight and Ichigo from across the room. He clenched his teeth and snarled, his hand closing into a fist. In a wave of fury he yelled,

"Chimera animal! Kill him first!" He pointed and angry finger at the Blue Knight as he was landing gracefully on the ground. The chimera animal, confused about his master's identity, looked from Pai, to Kisshu, and back to Pai. He let out a small groan at the back of his throat and made up his mind, lunging at the Blue Knight as commanded. The Mews, rising to their feet, gasped and aimed their weapons at the monster,

"Ribbon Minto Echo!"

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!"

"Ribbon Pudding Ring Inferno!"

With incredible speed, the attacks all came together in a huge mass, erupting in a tremendous cloud of dust. The Mews coughed and sneezed, shielding their eyes from the dust and squinting to see through it. A flash of blue flew out from the mess, and they knew that the Blue Knight was safe, as well as Ichigo. Minto breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close, na do da…" Purin said wearily.

Suddenly, the chimera animal also rose out of the cloud, roaring and thrashing about. Zakuro narrowed her eyes,

"It's been hit."

The beast lunged forward toward the airborne Blue Knight, jumping high in the air to reach him. With a swift movement, he turned in air and aimed for the Blue Knight with his back fin. The Blue Knight had just enough time to turn.

The room was dead silent except for the sickening slapping noise that came from the fin of the chimera animal.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The chimera animal was falling back towards the ground, the Blue Knight was falling towards the opposite direction, and, Ichigo, without the protection of the Blue Knight, was plummeting toward the ground. She opened her eyes, saw the ground fast approaching, and screamed.

---

Retasu looked up from the blueprints when she heard a crash outside, then a crack split down the middle of the door.

"The Mews must be trying to break me out…," she murmured to herself. She closed the blueprint page and shoved it back in the desk. She picked up her pendant and kissed it, saying the familiar words,

"Mew Mew Lettuce! Metamorphosis!" With a flashing array of green and white, Mew Lettuce appeared on the scene.

Looking around the room, she spotted a pair of heavy scissors in a small, round container. She picked them up and walked over to the door, summoning her casinets and holding the scissors up to the crack. Using the scissors as a chisel and the castanets as a hammer, she began to, slowly but surely, force the crack wider…

---


	9. All together?

(A.N./

Chapter Nine is here!

I hope you like the chapter

Review to tell why

**Notice:** I am currently updating the chapters of this fic in a pattern. If you can tell me what it is, you get...um...first place. And a butterscotch cookie. XD Sorry, I have this freaky obsession with virtual cookies...)

---

Ichigo's scream echoed off the stone walls of the alien structure as she fell, creating an intense, dramatic effect. Instantly all of the Mews rushed toward her yelling,

"Ichigo!" Minto was getting ahead due to her flight, and Pudding was taking the spot up behind her with her infinite energy. No one really heard the sound of the chimera animal hitting the floor as they all ran to Ichigo. Zakuro, however, remembered the Blue Knight and split off from Pudding and Minto.

Ichigo's eyes fixed on the ground before her, and she felt something jump inside her. As soon as she did, she unconsciously flipped right-side up. Her cat genes had kicked in.

Unfortunately, Kisshu happened to teleport directly under her in an attempt to catch her. Before he could get out of the way, Ichigo had landed on top of him, her feet pounding his chest as she landed. He gasped in pain and rolled over to his side, gripping his chest.

Ichigo tottered off to one side and tried to regain her balance. Her head was pounding, her senses were dimmed, and she longed for sleep. She was, quite literally, half-conscious. The two Mews crowded around her, asking her if she was alright, and checking for broken bones. Ichigo didn't respond; she just stared blankly in front of her and took deep breaths of air.

At the same time, both Taruto and Pai teleported next to Kisshu, mumbling inaudible curse words under their breath as they examined him. Pai ran a hand over Kisshu's ribs, and heard him gasp. He frowned and turned to Taruto,

"I'm going to give him medical help. In the meantime, I need you to release the prototype chimera animal we've been experimenting on."

Taruto looked at him doubtfully for a moment or two, and then nodded gravely. At that, Pai teleported off with Kisshu.

Zakuro rushed to the Blue Knight's side as he flew to the ground. He had lightened his fall substantially by trying to fly in the opposite direction, but he still had hit the ground. Zakuro called to him, stooping to look at his face,

"Anything broken?" The Blue Knight shook his head and got up, brushing the dust off himself.

"Where's Ichigo?" he asked, "Is she alright?" Zakuro pointed to the three Mews,

"It seems so. You may want to have a look." The Blue Knight nodded and walked over to them, with Zakuro trailing behind.

The shark-like chimera animal rose to its feet, growling, and saw Taruto standing in front of him. Taruto outstretched a hand, summoned his weapon, and aimed it at the chimera animal. The great beast got a notion for what was going on, and was about to lunge onto its master when electricity flew out of Taruto's weapon, striking the chimera animal dead. The parasite and the soul floated came out of the dissolved body, and Taruto took them both.

He summoned a new parasite, it being an eerie, orange-red color. Taking the soul he had used for the shark chimera animal, he recycled it into the new parasite. It glowed a bright red, then Taruto took it with both hands and pressed it into his chest, it dissolving into himself…

The Blue Knight walked over to Ichigo and stooped to her eye level. He examined the blurry, absent look in her eyes and felt her forehead. Frowning, he turned to Zakuro,

"We need to get Mew Lettuce, then head back to the mansion. I am sure that Minto's parents will be returning at any minute." Minto gasped lightly at the realization of how much trouble she would be in if her parents returned to a flooded house, and nodded gravely.

"L-Lettuce…" Ichigo mumbled, stooping to the floor. All eyes were on her as she continued to mumble in a croaky voice, "L-lettuce…door…" Her eyes flickered to the door on one side of the hall.

Zakuro stood up and walked to the door. She aimed her weapon at it and called,

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" The impact was followed with a crash, and, amidst in a cloud of dust, Lettuce came tumbling out of the rubble, coughing lightly. The three able Mews rushed to her, calling,

"Lettuce!"

"Lettuce-chan!"

Lettuce smiled at them, but her face turned bleak as she explained quietly,

"I know how to make Ichigo's pendant go back to normal." The Mews listening let out a sigh of relief, and Zakuro handed her Ichigo's pendant. She turned back toward the door and slowly made her way across the blocks of fallen rubble as not to trip. When she reached the interior of the room, she walked to a large machine with the torn wires protruding from it. She set the pendant in a small, pull-out compartment in the machine before pressing a series of small buttons.

The machine whirred for a moment before a green light lit up on the side. Lettuce opened the small compartment and took out the pendant. She gasped lightly, though, when she found it to be extremely hot. Dropping it on the floor with a small 'plink', she whimpered to herself, waving her hand in the air to cool it down.

Zakuro came over to her and stooped to the pendant, blowing on it before picking it up gingerly. She carried it back to where the other Mews were standing, Lettuce following right behind her.

Zakuro handed the pendant to the Blue Knight, nodding to him. They seemed to have their own personal way of communicating without speaking, like they could read each other's minds.

Suddenly, a bright red light shone out from a few yards away where Taruto was. They all turned to look, but only Taruto was there when the light dimmed.

Before they knew what was happening, Taruto had teleported and was gone. The Blue Knight and the Mews looked around for him, but they didn't see him as he snuck up behind Minto. He smirked mischievously to himself before giving Minto a heavy shove. Her eyes widened, then closed. When they opened again, they were a dim, scarlet red, but they quickly faded back to blue. Taruto, in turn, quickly teleported once again.

The Mews and Blue Knight crowded around Minto, but she didn't immediately respond. When she did, she spoke in a slightly high-pitched voice,

"I'm fine, really. Let's get back to the…mansion." Zakuro exchanged looks with the Blue Knight before nodding,

"That seems like a good idea."

Zakuro readied her Zakuro Spear and took a wide slash at the air, calling,

"Ribbon Zakuro Spear!" She formed a wide gap in the air, but, before she could step through, a gush of water came pouring out of the hole. The Mews and Blue Knight, who was holding Ichigo, jumped out of the way to avoid the small river that was gushing out of the hole.

Pudding peered through curiously and gasped,

"The whole upstairs is flooded, na do da!" she shrieked. Lettuce grimaced, turning to Minto,

"Minto-san, w-what are your parents going to do about the damage to the house? What should we do?" Pudding shook her head and paced around Minto in a circle,

"Don't you have, like, a bazillion dollars in the bank, na do da? Anyway, you can probably come up with an excuse, na do da. I'd bet they'd buy that the house just flooded 'cause the basement was clogged, na do da!" Minto nodded,

"Yes, well, that's a very good idea, Pudding. Good job." Pudding grinned widely and began to jump around, yelling,

"Al-right, na do da! I did it, na do da!" Lettuce wrung her hands and spoke up,

"Um, well…that doesn't really explain how to…get all of the water out…" Zakuro shook her head,

"We don't need to get all of it out. We just need to slow it down until Minto's parents return, then Minto can deliver the story about the flooded basement accurately." Pudding spoke,

"But what about all the places where the water's coming out now, na do da? Won't the plumbers notice the pipes being broken and stuff, na do da?"

There was a small silence before the Blue Knight spoke for the first time in a while,

"That is exactly our challenge. In your Mew forms it should not be as difficult, but we need to repair all of the broken places in the pipes, turn off faucets, and so on." Pudding groaned,

"Aww man, na do da. That's no fun, na do da," Zakuro was about to counter her before Pudding spoke again, "I wish the aliens hadn't made such a mess in the first place, na do da."

Everyone silently agreed with her.

The Blue Knight stole another glance to the hyperventilating Ichigo he was carrying before nodding to Zakuro. He jumped through the hole Zakuro had opened and motioned for the other Mews to do the same. One by one, they jumped through the hole and waded into the river until only Zakuro was left. With a quick dash and a flick of her whip, she jumped through the portal and closed it behind her, leaving no Mews ever to return to the alien dimension.

---

Taruto leaned over the cot the unconscious Kisshu was lying on, examining the place in his ribs that he had fractured. He narrowed his eyes and looked to Pai, who seemed in a daze as he stared off into nowhere.

"Oi, Pai," Taruto said. Pai snapped out of his trance and looked down at Taruto casually. The smaller alien continued, "Do you think that releasing the chimera animal on the Mews is such a great idea?" Pai's expression flickered to doubt for a moment before he said,

"Yes, I am sure. As the chimera animal moves through the bodies of the girls, it will collect valuable data by invading their dormant mind. This is crucial to our future mission, and will provide us with more of an advantage than we previously had." Taruto blew a hair out of his face and crossed his arms,

"Well, yeah, but the thing's still in development! We haven't been able to run any tests on it, so what if something goes wrong?"

"Nothing will go wrong," Pai insisted, "Even if something would, which is highly unlikely, what do we have to lose? I doubt any errors will arise in the prototype, since it will require one of us aliens to remove the parasite from the infected Mew. It is virtually flawless, that is, with the cooperation of you two…" Taruto rolled his eyes,

"Sure, sure. Like I'd actually interfere. I'm just worried about him," he shrugged his head in Kisshu's direction, "…but I don't think he'll be going anywhere soon." Pai nodded grimly,

"All the better, then." Taruto smirked and narrowed his eyes,

"All the better."

---

(A.N./ I am honestly trying my hardest NOT to be to cliche here. The chimera animal is a prototype of the one in epside 39, where a similar, more improved one appears and attacks the Mews. This one has the similar abilities of possessing the Mews, but travels from one to the other instead of sticking in one. It also has nothing to do with dream-manipulating, throwing them into an alternate dimension, or Kisshu coming and rescuing them (maybe). -cough- Anyway, I'd love to hear feedback on this chapter, everyone!)


	10. Infectious

(A.N./

I'm really, really, really sorry that this chapter is late! It's the holiday season this time of year, so I'm a bit busy. I'll try to release chapters more efficiently, and work on them over time from now on. Again, I'm really sorry!

Al-right! Finally!

We're in the double digits!

Chapter Ten has come!

So I went into some research while writing PcB, and I'm not sure if the Blue Knight can teleport or not. I looked up a couple clips, and he seems to fly off-screen most of the time. I'm going on the basis that he does NOT teleport. If someone can give me good and honest proof that he can or can't, that would be amazing! Thank you, and here's your chapter!)

---

Pudding whined loudly as they sloshed through the ankle-deep water on the top story of the mansion.

"This feels gross, na do da!" she moaned, rubbing her eye drowsily, "I want to go back to bed, na do da!" Lettuce put an arm around the small girl's shoulder as a mother would do. She smiled at her weakly and said,

"I know, Pudding-chan. We all do." Pudding looked positively miserable; the lack of sleep had taken a heavy blow to her usual positive attitude. Lettuce pitied her, but she was significantly tired herself.

Zakuro suddenly turned a corner and motioned for the procession to follow her. They took the staircase that led to the attic of the mansion, climbing up into the fetid smell and the aisles of dusty, cramped furniture. Ichigo moaned from the Blue Knight's arms and sneezed. The Blue Knight felt her forehead with his palm. The corners of his mouth turned down slightly as he murmured,

"She's burning up." Zakuro looked, concerned, from the Blue Knight, to Ichigo, to the rest of the Mews. Her eyes, however, fell on Minto, who was staring blankly to the other side of the room. Zakuro narrowed her eyes and suddenly lunged forward, pinning Minto to the opposite wall. All eyes turned to her as she held Minto there and growled,

"Who are you? What did Taruto-?"

Her voice stopped mid-sentence, though, and she released Minto from the wall. Her eyes shone a scarlet red before fading back into their usual purple. She blinked and said in a droning voice,

"Sorry. She is fine." Minto scrambled to her feet and blinked once or twice before turning to the others,

"What were you saying, again?" The Blue Knight narrowed his eyes at Zakuro, who held the same blank stare that Minto had previously possessed. He shifted his eyes to Ichigo and declared,

"We had best get going on slowing the water. The sooner we clean up here, the sooner Ichigo can get help, and the sooner we can all get a good night's sleep." The whole room seemed to sigh in relief after hearing the precious word: sleep.

The Blue Knight ushered the Mews, one by one, down the stairs to the second level. Finally, Zakuro stepped down the stairs last, and exchanged a blank, empty look with the Blue Knight. He narrowed his eyes slightly and followed after her down the stairs. He would be keeping a close eye on her.

Once the allies had all gathered at the top of the stairs, the Blue Knight announced,

"As much as I hate to say this, we must split up to be efficient on the housework. I will be with Zakuro, draining the water, while the rest of you can work on the upstairs faucets and pipes. Am I clear?"

The rest of the Mews nodded, but Pudding saluted to the Blue Knight, her face hardening into a very rare serious one. She seemed to enjoy being in her own world of being a military commander in the navy forces. However, she was the first one down the hall as soon as a sound had uttered the Blue Knight's lips,

"Le-" he stopped and smiled lightly to himself as he saw Pudding splash her way through the halls, spraying water on either side of her path.

"Let's go," he finished, nodding to Zakuro. Minto and Lettuce split off from them and went in the opposite direction that Pudding was going.

The Blue Knight stepped down the stairs to where the water level was. He instructed,

"Zakuro, could you please open a teleport hole right here?" He pointed to a spot approximately in the middle of the lake of water. Zakuro obediently struck her weapon down into the water and let it sink before pulling it upwards, opening a slit in the water. The water gushed around on the top like a vortex, and swirled into the hole.

The Blue Knight applauded her,

"Well done, Zakuro. Keep that up." Zakuro turned to him and nodded. Her eyes fell on Ichigo, however. Her hand stretched out to touch Ichigo's loosely dangling one while she kept the vortex going. The Blue Knight saw her and jumped back,

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," he said, a slight edge to his voice. Zakuro pulled her whip out of the water, stopping the flow of water. She lunged forward at the Blue Knight and, before he could react, caught hold of Ichigo's hand, giving it a tight squeeze. The Blue Knight pulled her hand off Ichigo, and watched as Ichigo's eyes flashed bright crimson before turning pink again. He grimaced and looked at Zakuro, who staggered back a few steps, holding her head.

She groaned and massaged her forehead, muttering,

"I feel weird…" The Blue Knight's frown deepened as he explained,

"The aliens seemed to have released a parasite on us that possesses us. You had just been infected, but now it's in Ichigo." Zakuro seemed taken aback as she looked from her hands, to the Blue Knight, to Ichigo. Ichigo stirred and shifted in the Blue Knight's arms before standing up, pushing the Blue Knight away from herself. She rubbed her eyes,

"I am tired. Can I go somewhere else?" The Blue Knight and Zakuro stared at her, odd expressions on their faces. The Blue Knight spoke,

"No, stay here." Ichigo seemed to ignore him as she traveled down one side of the hallway, remarkably fast for her physical health. The Blue Knight exhaled in frustration under his breath before turning to Zakuro,

"Keep the water drainage coming; I'll handle Ichigo." Zakuro nodded, and the Blue Knight took off after Ichigo. Her flew up next to her and tried to grab her arm in an attempt of self-sacrifice, but she jerked away before he could, and continued her sprint down the hall. She reached the end and turned into the room to her left. The Blue Knight turned into the same room to follow and heard,

"Ichigo-chan, na do da! Pudding was worried about you, na do da!" He rushed into the room, but didn't make it in time before he saw Ichigo press her hand to Pudding's forehead. The Blue Knight quickly dashed over and pulled Ichigo from Pudding. It was a futile attempt, though, because Pudding's eyes flashed the scarlet red before returning to their normal color. He felt Ichigo slump in his grip, and he lifted her up again. He looked into Pudding's blank-staring eyes as she spoke to him,

"Go back to what you were doing." The Blue Knight narrowed his eyes slightly,

"You usually say 'na do da' at the end of your sentences, am I wrong?" Pudding kept the silence for a few seconds before shaking her head and smiling at him,

"Yup, na do da!" The Blue Knight walked over to the bed in the room and set Ichigo down on it gently. He turned to Pudding,

"Hold on a moment, Pudding-chan." Pudding nodded brightly as the Blue Knight walked out of the room.

"Ichigo should be safe, since she's already been infected…" he murmured to himself. Besides, he just had to get Minto or Lettuce to watch Ichigo while he was away with Zakuro. He wouldn't be away for long.

Halfway down the hall, he called,

"Lettuce-san!"

A few seconds later, Lettuce came running out of one of the rooms at the other side of the hall. She stopped in front of the Blue Knight.

"Yes?" she inquired. The Blue Knight pointed to the room behind him,

"I need you to come with me to where Ichigo is. I just need you to watch over her while I'm away. Can you do that?" He decided that it was best not to scare Lettuce with the news about the parasite, considering Lettuce didn't exactly have the strongest composure of the Mews. Lettuce nodded, keeping her head bowed,

"Y-yes, I think so." The Blue Knight smiled and put a hand on her shoulder,

"Thank you very much; please come with me."

He led her down the hallway to the door and pushed it open. He stopped, though, when he saw that there was no one inside. Lettuce looked suspiciously from the Blue Knight, to the empty room, and back to the Blue Knight. The Blue Knight shook his head and started,

"U-um, well, go back to what you were doing. I was mistaken." Lettuce looked worriedly to him, begging,

"Please, you're hiding something! Tell me, please, what's going on?!" The Blue Knight just shook his head,

"No, Lettuce, just go back, please." Lettuce gave one last panicked look around the empty room before heading back to the room she was previously in, no doubt going to consult Minto about the situation.

---

Taruto flew above the roads leading to the flooded mansion. He eyed the cars as they went by, searching for the blue Mew's family members. The task wasn't entirely done as part of a mission. He was mostly searching cars because he was just plain bored.

Suddenly, after about fifteen minutes of idle scanning, his eyes locked on a young woman driving a long, black car. He flew a little closer to see that she closely resembled Minto.

_That must be her mother… _he thought to himself.

He flew far ahead of the car until he reached the mansion. Looking back, he examined the road the car was traveling on and smirked to himself.

..._**Estimated arrival time: Ten minutes…**_

---


	11. Murder

(A.N./

People seem to miss

My clever little poems

Should my haikus go?

As pointed out by a reviewer or two, the KxI fluff is getting sparse. We will have some nice, fluffy, KxI cotton-candy fluff by the end of this chapter; I promise! Also, I've noticed that we're a bit lacking in PxT fluff as well. That will be coming next chapter for sure.

Just a heads-up: this story probably has only two or three chapters left. I wasn't planning to make this story very long in the first place, and the way I've moved the plotline along doesn't give me much wiggle room without useless, boring filler chapters.

Anyway, enjoy the chapter everyone!)

---

"…and then, when I got to the room, it was empty! He told me to forget it, but I really think that something suspicious is going on!"

Lettuce finished her panicked explanation with a worried sigh. Minto, who wasn't paying much attention to the story, merely scoffed,

"I'm sure you're just overreacting again."

"N-no, I'm not!" Lettuce persisted. She immediately bowed her head in shame and apologized, however, saying,

"I'm very sorry, Minto-san, I didn't mean to contradict you so harshly!" Minto pretended not to hear her and called,

"Lettuce, could I have some help with this toilet? I most certainly am not touching the toilet water…" Lettuce sighed to herself and glanced from the restroom, to the hall, and back to the restroom. She bit her lip and said, quite loudly,

"No! I'm going to help our friend!" Minto emerged from the restroom just in time to see her dash out of the room.

"Lettuce?" she called after her friend. After hearing no reply, she walked after her, calling again, "Lettuce!"

She mused at her friend's odd behavior.

_That's not like her to run off on someone like that. She must really be serious._

Her pace quickened as she thought her words over, and she turned out into the hall to see…

---

The parasite infecting Pudding smirked devilishly from inside her. It had found a perfect place out of sight for causing mischief - the laundry chute.

The 2.5 ft. x 2.5 ft. opening proved an excellent suicide drop; the dirty water filling the room below was swirling with furniture and household items.

"Chance of instant peril - 90%!" the parasite sang to itself, "Chance of slow and painful death - 10%!" It cackled to itself and loosened its grip on Ichigo. "Pitiful girl!" it mocked, "You've done nothing to help anyone tonight! All you did was sit around and be a burden for everyone to rescue! Even one of my masters was hurt trying to save your pathetic life! Now it's time to get rid of you, and save everyone else the trouble!"

Before it could move, however, it heard a voice from behind it,

"Chimera animal, I order you to stop!"

The surprised parasite, still clutching Ichigo's unconscious body, whirled around and scowled at Taruto, who stood before his own creation. The chimera animal hissed,

"My humblest apologies, dear master, but I'm just about to rid you of one of your greatest threats. Would you care to watch?" Taruto kept his face stern and unmoving as he said,

"No. There will be no deaths tonight. Stop at once." The parasite appeared amused as it spoke in a jeering tone,

"Excuse me, but weren't you the one who wanted to finish them off tonight? Your mission would be fulfilled, and you would be a hero."

"That still doesn't justify the fact that I'm committing murder to an innocent life."

"Innocent? Ha! These creatures of filth have taken away your people's hopes and dreams, their planet, and have dirtied it with their slime and muck!" Taruto's face twitched ever so slightly at the chimera animal's words. It continued, sensing the hesitation radiating off the young alien,

"The least you could do would be to repay them for their deeds of selfishness. Maybe by, say, killing off their defenders?" The Chimera animal suddenly shook Ichigo around harshly, calling,

"Wake up, little girl. You should be awake to see your ending!" It shook Ichigo again, and Taruto let a low growl of annoyance escape his throat. Ichigo slowly opened her eyes, and, looking around briefly, groaned,

"W-what's going…on…?"

"Pitiful, is she not?" the chimera laughed. It turned its head to Ichigo,

"I am a parasite inside your little friend. Sorry to say, but you're about to die!" Taruto took a step forward,

"I said _there will be no killing_!" The chimera animal raised an eyebrow ever so slightly,

"Aren't you disobeying your orders by letting her live?" Taruto hung his head and clenched his teeth. The chimera bore a mocking smirk once again. It turned back to hanging Ichigo over the chute.

"I know," it stated, "that there are perfectly good reasons why I should drop her right now, and not doing so would be disobeying my orders." Ichigo's eyes grew wider and she struggled weakly in the parasite's grip. Taruto lunged forward at the parasite, but it released Ichigo in a quick toss, sending her flying in. Taruto plunged his hand down into the chute and caught her firmly by the wrist. He groaned and grunted under her weight, pulling with all his might to keep her up. He swung his second hand into the chute for support. He groaned,

"You owe me a lot for this, old hag…" The parasite looked on with great amusement, quite pleased to have front seats to the show.

---

Minto's eyes widened as he saw a streak of pale white and green flash across the room, and dive into the water. She squinted to get a better perception of the object before it vanished. She gasped,

_Oh no…_

---

Beads of sweat dripped down Taruto's face as he struggled with Ichigo's weight, she being much taller and older than he is. He groaned once more before he gave in completely, releasing Ichigo's wrist from his grip.

The world seemed to move in slow motion as Taruto hid his face, the chimera animal grinned in delight, and Ichigo gave one last choked cry.

---

The chimera animal's grin vanished from it's face almost instantly. He hissed,

"She didn't make impact." It dove forward towards the chute to try to see down it. Taruto lifted his eyes up, and before him out of the chute rose a dripping-wet Kisshu who was holding Ichigo, still alive and well. The tension in his face relaxed momentarily before he saw the obvious pain in his companion's face.

"Kisshu, you're not supposed to leave the medical treatment yet! You're not even supposed to _move_ for a day or two!" Kisshu groaned painfully, setting the traumatized Ichigo down,

"I'm well aware…" he sat down next to Ichigo and crossed his legs, feeling his side gingerly. Taruto grimaced along with Kisshu when he saw him flinch away from the wound.

"It's a little better…," he mumbled. Ichigo stayed quiet, and, with eyes closed, rolled to one side.

The chimera animal, who had been keeping silent the entire time, suddenly roared,

"What do you think you're doing?! This is entirely against the rules of the mission! Why, I should just save the trouble and tell Deep Blue-sama about you two _right now_!"

Both the alien's heads shot up at this statement. The parasite, glad to see a reaction, grinned wickedly to itself.

Suddenly it ran forward towards Kisshu, outstretching Pudding's arm to him. Kisshu had a moment to react, and twisted so that the hand hit his neck instead of his side. A momentary pause, and Pudding fell to the floor, while Kisshu clutched his neck, breathing heavily. Taruto immediately knew what he had to do. He outstretched his hand to the older alien's neck and began to pull the parasite out of him. The thing struggled and fought, but Taruto fought against it, and eventually forced it out. Carefully avoiding touching it, he lowered it onto the floor. He heard Kisshu groan and said,

"Oi, Kisshu, would you do the honors?" Kisshu smirked to himself,

"Gladly." He grabbed a nearby laundry basket and slammed it onto the parasite. Gooey remnants splattered all over the room in a sorry mess. The little pieces gradually shrunk smaller and smaller until they were gone completely.

"We should do that more often…" Taruto remarked thoughtfully.

"Do what? Risk our lives, break some rules…what?" Kisshu asked suspiciously, pressing his hand to Ichigo's forehead. Taruto nodded,

"That too, but what I meant was squishing parasites. They're kind of fun to watch explode!" Kisshu grinned,

"And so the immature little kid in Taruto emerges once again…"

"You're one to talk," Taruto sarcastically, "That's coming from the one who dove right out of your medical treatment not a minute or two ago!"

"Taruto," Kisshu said dully, "Do I _ever _stick around for 'proper medical treatment'?" Taruto's smirk grew broader into a playful smile,

"You do have a point…" He stopped the conversation, however, when he heard Pudding groan from behind him,

"Why does my head feel weird, na do da…?" He froze stiff and shot an anxious glace to Kisshu, who wore a teasing face that plainly read, 'You know you want to'. He waved goodbye to Taruto in a mocking gesture, and teleported, Ichigo with him. Taruto knew he had done so to "give Pudding and him time alone", as his older companion would state it.

Taruto took a deep breath before turning to Pudding, who rubbed her eyes in a cute sort of way that made him blush. He put his forehead in his hand and closed his eyes, thinking to himself,

_You're going to be fine…you can do this…_

Somehow, he wasn't selling it to himself.

---

Kisshu stumbled out of his teleporting hole and set Ichigo down on the bed in the same room that they had been in previous: Minto's second bedroom. He tentatively walked over to the other side of the bed and laid down on its fluffy, down covers.

He looked over at Ichigo, who appeared to be asleep, and called,

"Ichigo, I know you're awake." A second or two of silence passed before he tried again, "Ichigo, I heard you scream. I know you're just pretending to be asleep."

At that, Ichigo groaned and turned over to the other side of the bed, mumbling,

"So tired…" Kisshu rolled his eyes and shook her shoulder, saying,

"Don't I get any appreciation for, you know, saving your life?"

"…did you?" Ichigo muttered quietly. Kisshu frowned and sighed shortly.

"Yes," he said impatiently, "I did." Ichigo hesitated to respond before she said,

"Oh yeah…" She paused again, "…you know, the Blue Knight never asks for any thanks when he saves my life…"

Kisshu clenched his teeth and tried to subdue his rising temper. He eventually managed to mutter darkly,

"I'm not the Blue Knight."

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes after that. Ichigo's breath was the only sound in the room, the sloshing of water outside being a quiet drone in the background.

Eventually, Ichigo replied,

"I'm aware. Actually, you're the thing the Blue Knight saves me from, right?"

"I guess so," said Kisshu, "But would any other _normal_ person want thanks after saving someone's life?"

"That's a good point," Ichigo mumbled. She shifted over to face Kisshu, her drowsy eyes searching his face, "But that still doesn't cancel out the fact that you're still my mortal enemy."

Kisshu smirked impishly,

"Come on, Koneko-chan, has anything that's gone on this night made perfect sense? I mean, here we are, sharing a bed and reminiscing about our day!"

Ichigo hissed,

"Don't push your luck, pervert." Kisshu's smirk only grew wider as he remarked,

"Ah, but that's my specialty!" His eyes shone in delight as he leant forward towards Ichigo and grabbed her chin, pulling her closer. Ichigo barely had a moment to react, saying,

"K-Kish--!" She was cut off by the swift action of his lips pressing against hers. She froze dead for a few moments, letting Kisshu have his way, before she brought a hand up to push him away. Kisshu drew back first, though, and licked his lips. He frowned,

"Sorry, Koneko-chan, but your kisses are better when you're not sick. Thanks for the repayment for saving your life, anyway." Ichigo growled fiercely,

"Well _sorry_ that I don't meet your standards! Now leave me alone!"

"Where else would I go?" Kisshu asked mockingly, "Obviously I'm in just as bad shape as you are, and don't feel like moving. If I go back to Pai before he's had a chance to cool down, I'll be in huge trouble. If I wander around the mansion, the Blue Knight will beat me to a pulp. But if I stay _here_…" Ichigo groaned and turned over on her side,

"Fine. Just let me get some sleep." Kisshu, still wearing a playful smirk, twirled some of Ichigo's red hair around his thin fingers. Ichigo let out a grunt of annoyance that signaled that he should stop.

Kisshu set his wandering hand back down onto the bed covers and thought to himself,

_I wonder how Romeo and his monkey girl are doing…_

---


	12. All's Well that Ends Well

(A.N./

Here is chapter 12

Probably second to last

At least…I think so.

Second to last chapter, people! For this chapter, I'm going to try something a little different. I haven't had much experience in writing in 1st person, and I'd like to practice a little more. The scene presented was a perfect opportunity to work with Pudding's POV!

As a side note, Pudding sometimes does not use proper grammar, and her words might seem a bit jumbled up. This is all part of her childish way of thinking, and is written like that completely out of correct characterization.

Please tell me how I did in a review, and tell me if I kept her in character. Thanks, and here's your chapter!)

---

_(Pudding's POV)_

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that my head hurt really bad. I groaned,

"Why does my head feel weird, na do da…?" I rubbed my eyes and moved my nose around. At least my face was still moving! I could tell I was still transformed 'cause I could feel my monkey ears move when I wiggled them.

Everything was kinda blurry when I looked around, but I blinked a couple times and I could see way better. Then I saw that Taru-taru was sitting right in front of me! He wasn't really looking at me though, more like hiding his face. He looked so cute like that, and I really wanted to give him a big hug!

"Taru-taru!" I said, "What's wrong?"

He didn't really say anything; he just kind of shifted around a bit. I frowned,

"Taru-Taru, you can be a big meanie sometimes, na do da, but could you at least say something please, na do da?" Would you believe he still wasn't talking to me? He was being so rude! You should at least tell someone you don't want to talk if you don't want to talk. Especially if that someone just woke up from being passed out or something! I was getting kinda mad, so I said louder,

"Hey, wake up, na do da! I want to talk, Taru-taru, na do da!"

Finally, he responded! He uncurled from his little ball and said,

"You tired?" Happy to get a response, I nodded really fast,

"Yup, na do da!" I frowned when I thought about them attacking the mansion, though. I asked, "When are you guys leaving, na do da? I wanna get to bed, na do da."

Taru-taru seemed to get kinda mad at that, but then his face went back to the tired one. He said quietly,

"About ten minutes, I think. At least, I think Minto's parents are coming around then…I'll talk to Pai about it…" I turned my head to the side,

"He's the big, purple, scary one, right, na do da?" Taru-taru seemed to loosen up a bit at that and even laughed a little! I giggled too, but he straightened up fast and got up. I frowned. He seemed to be going back into super-defensive mode now. That's what he does when he wants to look cool or strong. He does that a lot…

"I'm going now!" he announced, and looked back down on me with angry-looking eyes. Yup, he was definitely in super-defense mode. He said, "Don't get any ideas, okay? Pretend I was never here."

I felt a little sad at that, but I didn't show it. If I looked sad, then Taru-taru would just catch the sadness from me. Sadness in contagious like that. Instead, I smiled as bright as I could and asked, standing up,

"Taru-taru, could I have a hug before you leave, na do da?" He seemed a little scared and kind of embarrassed when I said that. A cute little red blush crept up his face, too! I was so happy! He mumbled,

"N-no way, small fry." I took a few steps closer,

"Aw, come on, please, na do da?!" He shook his head really fast, making his brown pigtails wiggle back and forth. He was just too cute for me _not_ to hug! So, with that, I performed my Super-Secret Fong Family Tackle-Hug on him, landing a perfect target! He struggled in my grip, but he was so warm and soft! He gave me the warm fuzzies all over! After a few seconds I let go of him and said,

"Thank you, na do da! That was a nice hug, na do da!" The little red blush had spread all over his face. He looked totally embarrassed! He grumbled,

"I didn't say you could have a hug, freak…" Right after that, he teleported away. I smiled to myself and skipped out of the room humming. That was really fun!

When I got out into the big, long hall, I saw Minto-oneechan talking to Lettuce-oneechan. They seemed to be arguing about something or another. I listened in and heard Minto-oneechan,

"I swear, I wasn't seeing things! I really saw him dive right into the water!" Then I heard Lettuce-oneechan,

"Sorry, Minto, but maybe you just didn't get enough sleep…" I narrowed my eyes and jumped out from the doorway I was hiding in, yelling,

"Saw WHO go into the water, na do da?!" Minto-oneechan must've jumped a foot up in the air she went so far! She turned around real slowly and said,

"Why do you need to know, Pudding?!" Lettuce smiled and ran over to me though, and gave me a hug.

"I'm so glad you're here, Pudding-chan!" I smiled nicely. I always like hugs from my friends. I gave her a big hug back and said,

"I'm glad, too, na do da, but I don't really know what happened, na do da!" Lettuce asked,

"Do you know where Ichigo-san is?" I shook my head,

"Nope, na do da." Lettuce-oneechan looked really worried. She said,

"Well, the last time I heard, you two were both in the big master bedroom when you both disappeared." Minto called across the hall,

"Zakuro-oneesama, Pudding-chan's come back!" A few seconds later, Zakuro-oneechan and Blue Knight-san came tearing down the hall. Like the rest of the Mews, Zakuro-onceechan looked happy to see me, and so did Blue Knight-san. Zakuro-oneechan said,

"Now that a lot of us are together again, we should look for Ichigo," she turned to me, "Do you remember anything about you and Ichigo disappearing?" I thought really hard about that, but I couldn't remember anything from when I was turning off the faucets in the master bedroom to when Taru-Taru woke me up.

"Well, na do da," I said, "I can't really remember much, just that when I woke up, I was in the laundry room, and Taru-Taru was sitting next to me, na do da!" My friends' faces all turned to confused ones when I said that. Lettuce-oneechan asked,

"Taruto? What did he say?"

"Not much, na do da," I said. I thought a little more and then remembered the thing about ten minutes, "Oh, yeah! He said that Minto's parents are coming in about ten minutes, na do da!"

"WHAT?!" everyone yelled. No one seemed happy with what I said. I nodded,

"Yeah, that's what he said, na do da! He said that they're leaving when Minto's parents get back, na do da!"

Minto-oneechan began pacing back and forth across the big hallway. She looked really nervous. Lettuce-oneechan wrung her fingers together like she does when she's scared. I could tell she was thinking really hard, too, because her eyebrows had a bunch of wrinkles between them. Zakuro and the Blue Knight both looked really serious too. The Blue Knight was the first one to break the silence, though.

"We had better start looking for Ichigo. If Taruto is right, and the aliens are gone, then finding Ichigo is our number one priority. The water downstairs is already drained, thanks to Zakuro, but I doubt she's there…"

All of a sudden, Lettuce-oneechan brightened up.

"I think we have a clue!" she said excitedly. I jumped up and down,

"Really, na do da?!" Lettuce nodded,

"Yes!" she said, "Minto said that she saw Kisshu dive into the water right over there…" she pointed to a spot towards the back of us, "…and you came from that same area. Taruto was also there, like you said. Ichigo disappeared with you when you were gone from the bedroom. I'd bet that the four of you were in the same room when something happened, and Kisshu and Ichigo are both gone together!" Zakuro nodded thoughtfully,

"That makes sense. From what I observed back in the alien dimension, Kisshu was critically injured and had to be taken off somewhere else, though. Why would he come back…?"

I shrugged, "I dunno, na do da. Kisshu-san seems to have some kind of obsession around Ichigo-oneechan, na do da…" It was true, really. He seemed to chase her everywhere and try to talk to her during fights, even though he was supposed to be focusing on getting rid of her. A little smile curled up my face when I thought of something. I burst out,

"_Kisshu-san's love for Ichigo-oneechan is forbidden love, na do da_!" Everyone around me seemed to wince, and Lettuce-oneechan had this funny little blush crawling up her face. I, however, was quite excited. It was like a cool TV drama being played out! I could see it now: _"A story of affection, sadness, and forbidden love! Princess Ichigo is-"_

"U-um, Pudding-chan…I don't think that's quite it…"

Lettuce-oneechan interrupted my thoughts.

Blue Knight-san seemed to be getting kind of mad, and he took a step forward, cutting in,

"I will go look for Ichigo. You Mews can finish up with the faucet work downstairs, then de-transform immediately back into your pajamas. I should have Ichigo back by then so you can deliver your story. Got it?"

We all nodded. I was the first one downstairs, bounding down before anyone else and charging towards the nearest restroom.

"Last one there is a rotten egg, na do da!" I yelled to my friends behind me. We had to hurry if we were going to fix the plumbing on time!

---

_(End Pudding's POV)_

The Blue Knight traveled down the expansive hallway, throwing open all the doors as he went past. At each one he opened the door, scanned it briefly, and closed the door. This tiring process went on for about eight more doors until he threw one open…

There, inside, on the bed, was a sleeping Ichigo and Kisshu, both quite still. Kisshu's arm was draped lazily around Ichigo's waist, with Ichigo facing the door.

The Blue Knight took a deep breath and crept in quietly. He came over to Ichigo and tapped her on the forehead. She shifted in her sleep. He tried tapping her again on her nose, and, this time, she stirred, opening her eyes with a soft groan. The Blue Knight looked her in the eye and put a finger to his mouth, signaling to keep quiet. Ichigo, feeling Kisshu behind her, nodded solemnly and shot her eyes quickly from the Blue Knight, to Kisshu, and back to the Blue Knight. He nodded and reached over to Kisshu's arm that was resting on Ichigo.

Slowly, carefully, he lifted it up and motioned to Ichigo. She got up quickly and slid next to the Blue Knight, hiding behind him, just in case Kisshu was not the type to be woken up after sleeping.

But Kisshu kept on sleeping, and the Blue Knight set his arm next to him gently. He motioned for Ichigo to follow him, and they both snuck out the door without a second glance.

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief once outside.

"Are you feeling alright?" the Blue Knight asked. Ichigo nodded,

"I'm feeling a little better after getting some sleep, but I still feel cold and kind of clammy." The Blue Knight shook his head,

"It's my fault. I should have been there to protect you."

"You know," Ichigo said quietly, "I'm very thankful for you saving me, Blue Knight. But I think that I can save myself sometimes, too, even though I seem to need saving a lot." She smiled warmly at him, stifling a giggle, and he smiled back.

---

"Stations, everyone!" Zakuro ordered. The four Mews before her were de-transformed and in their pajamas, at the ready on top of the staircase. The aliens were nowhere in sight. The plumbing was fixed to an extent that there would be no suspicions from picky plumbers. And Minto's parents were approaching fast.

Zakuro gave one last wave goodbye before she, with the Blue Knight, flew up towards the smashed window that the Blue Knight had come through and was gone. Pudding blinked,

"How are we gonna explain the broken window, na do da?"

"Flying tree limb from the storm, maybe…" Retasu suggested. Minto nodded,

"That sounds good, I guess."

They waited in silence, listening to the sound of heavy rain from outside. Suddenly, they heard the noise of a car on the pavement driveway. Everyone shifted positions nervously.

"Get ready…" Minto muttered.

A few seconds later, Minto's mother burst through the door, followed by a few chaperones, Minto's father, and Minto's brother. She called,

"Minto, are you alright?!" Minto came rushing down the stairs,

"Mom, it was so scary! The power went out and the house flooded from the downstairs basement!" Her mother embraced her and rubbed the back of her head soothingly,

"Shh, it's okay, we're here now…"

The rest of the Mews looked at each other and smiled, knowing Minto's acting was doing the trick. Her mom was buying it.

Her mother looked up suddenly, though, and she froze dead. Her eyes widened, and she stuttered,

"D-d-dear, w-who's that?!" Minto turned her head and gasped when she saw that Kisshu was stumbling down the staircase, followed by an angry-looking Pai and a melancholy Taruto.

The whole room seemed to stop in time, as one party stared at the other in silence. The aliens stood in the same gawking position as the humans in the room, not daring to move. They had the likeness of deer in front of headlights. Tension hung thick in the air as Minto slowly turned her head to her mom…

---

(A.N./ By the way, I put a poll up on my profile asking how I can improve in my writing. Please vote, because I really would like to know what my weak spots are!

Thank you, and Happy Holidays!)


	13. Cooperation: The Necessary Ingredient

(A.N./

And, finally, a poem

For those who missed them so

And as this story passes

We sadly watch it go.

It's a shame that it is finished

But happy I will be

For from my aching back I throw

My responsibility!

It is here…cue the death march. This is the last chapter here, **released early in celebration of the holidays**!

Finally, it's done! It seems like this story took eternity to finish, but maybe that's just me…

Overall, I was kind of disappointed with how this one turned out. Thanks to all of the wonderful con-crit I received, it has come to my attention that this story doesn't flow very well, some people step out of character, and parts of the story don't make a load of sense. This is all true, and I thank you guys very much for bringing these errors to my attention!

This story was, indeed, very messy, and definitely NOT my best work. Sure, it was loads of fun, but not very good quality-wise. I will try to improve as I progress through other stories, too, so don't lose hope in me if this story seemed like a let-down to anyone!

On a side note, there is an important announcement I have to make to you all, which will be added at the end of this chapter. This is VERY important, so be sure to stay tuned after the chapter is finished to read it.

Thank you very, very much, and, please, enjoy the rest of this story!

---

No one dared to move. The whole room was completely silent as one group stared at another. Minto, turning to her mother, saw the look of horror on her face. She started,

"Mom, I-"

No sooner had she tried to explain that, from the group of aliens, Pai teleported and quickly reappeared behind Minto's mother. Giving her a sharp blow to the head, she fell in Minto's arms. Minto gasped and cried,

"Mom! Mom! Are you okay?!" Instantly, the butlers that were with Mrs. Aizawa rushed at Pai, but he was too quick for them. With his inhuman strength and agility, he swiftly delivered blows to the butlers one at a time, all of them landing neatly in a pile at his feet. Soon Minto's father and brother were the only two remaining. Pai walked over to them and mumbled,

"This will only hurt for a second…" and brought his knuckle to the back of their heads in a neat strike. They both fell in a like manner as the rest.

The Mews, utterly speechless, could only gawk at the damage done, and wonder if Pai had gone mad. Minto, who was wiping angry tears from her face, demanded,

"W-what d-did you do to my family?!" Pai, retaining a cool, calm look on his face, responded icily,

"They could not see us like this. If we wanted our mission to publicized, then we would have made ourselves known quite some time ago. However, if your family would know, then our efforts of keeping moderate secrecy would be in vain," He paused for a moment before continuing, "That, and your plan was flawed. All of the windows of the mansion are still stuck shut."

He glanced down at Minto's family,

"I simply forced them to loose consciousness. They will, most likely, forget what happened or assumed it to be an illusion." Minto nodded solemnly and brushed a stray hair out of her mother's face.

Taruto shook his head and put a hand on his forehead. He groaned,

"Pai…that was kind of uncalled for…"

"I'll say, na do da," mumbled Purin, "I thought Pai-san had gone nutso for a second there, na do da!"

"Ironically, that's what we were all thinking…" Ichigo murmured under her breath. Retasu spoke up,

"U-um, what do we do now, Pai-san?"

"I am not your ally," Pai said, "But I will move the unconscious humans to an unsuspicious place. Setting up a scene to make it look like the humans got in a car crash or something of the sort sounds ideal. After that, we will assist in the freeing of your windows." Retasu bowed her head and nodded,

"T-that sounds perfect, thank you very much."

Pai lifted his head to look at Retasu. He stood staring at her for a few seconds before saying,

"Would you care to help me work the "car" device? I am not knowledgeable to how it works." Retasu's head shot up and she replied hastily,

"S-s-sure! I'm not very good at it myself, b-but I know a little and will try be of as much help as possible!" Pai nodded,

"Very well." He then addressed the rest of the Mews and his allies with a loud voice,

"I need everyone's assistance to move the bodies of the unconscious humans to the car. Any help you can lend would be much appreciated."

"Got it, na do da!" Purin said energetically. Ichigo nodded,

"'kay."

"Fine," Kisshu grumbled, who most certainly was not in the greatest mood (nor condition) to carry a human.

"Sure," said Taruto, all too eager to escape his boredom.

Minto let out a sigh and mumbled,

"Alright. Just promise you won't hurt them."

"For now, we have a truce," Pai replied.

Minto stood up and faced her friends. She lifted her head up and said,

"Come on, guys, let's do this!" The three Mews cheered at their friend's strength to endure the hardships. Purin bounded down the stairs and yelled,

"Super-Secret Fong Family Tackle-Hug!" She pounced on Minto and hugged her so hard that Minto had no air.

Retasu and Ichigo both walked down the stairs, Retasu helping Ichigo pull her weight. Taruto nodded to Kisshu and teleported him down to where Pai was. Kisshu didn't look to happy, and scowled,

"I wish I didn't have to be babysat all the time…" Pai only replied,

"It is your fault you're injured, idiot."

No more comments came out of the sulking Kisshu.

Everyone helped each other bear the load of a person to two or three, and they began the procession to the parked limo outside.

While the rest of the five people helped load the unconscious butlers in the car, Retasu gave Pai a little driving lesson. She pointed to all of the different pedals and gadgets featured by the driving seat.

"…and this is the clutch pedal," she explained, "…when you step on this, it cuts the engine momentarily and allows you to shift gears." Pai nodded,

"I think I understand…" He eyed the little symbol of a trumpet on the steering wheel, "What's this?"

Curiously, he pressed the symbol with his finger. A huge, loud honking rang out from the car, and Pai pulled his finger away in complete shock. The rest of the Mews and aliens clamped their hands over their ears.

After the noise had stopped, the party rubbed their heads and groaned. However, they weren't the only ones groaned. A few of the butlers that were situated in the car began to stir. Taruto saw them and yelled,

"Good going, Pai! They're waking up!" Pai cursed under his breath. He dove into the back seat, yelling for the Mews, who still loading people in, to get out of the way. Retasu sighed and turned her head. She heard crashing and thumping coming from the back, inevitably Pai trying to knock out the butlers for a second time.

She sighed,

"Well…this has been the longest night of my life, certainly…"

---

"_What the &#! are you doing, Taruto?!"_

"_GET OUT OF THE WAY!"_

"_What's going on, na do da?!" _

"_PUDDING!"_

---

Minto's mother woke up drowsily. Blinking, she opened her eyes. She gasped when she saw that she was in the driver's seat of the limo, and that a huge tree limb was on top of them. Hearing the rest of her family in the car begin to stir, she called,

"Is everyone alright?!" She heard various groans of "yeah" and "sure" in reply.

One of the butlers rolled down his car window and looked around suspiciously. Another sitting next to him asked,

"What is it?" The first butler shook his head,

"It's nothing. I just had a weird dream about these elf people, and I'm kind of freaked out now." The second butler raised an eyebrow,

"I had a similar dream, you know. Do you mean the scary-looking ones with foot-long ears?"

"Yeah, exactly like that!"

From somewhere outside, Pai cursed.

---

The end.

---

(A.N./ …and cut! It's finished! No, there will NOT be a sequel, so please don't ask!

**IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ!**

Now, I'm going to announce my news at the end of this story…why? I chose to tell you guys after this story was finished because I know that my closest reviewers, fans, and friends would be reading this story to the end. So this goes out to all of you.

Next year, in August of 2009, I will be enrolling in a very private, church-operated boarding school cross-country. Normally, this would have no concern to you people, considering it would only be a week or two before I could continue to write from over there. However, there is a complication.

The school has no internet access, except through very, very heavy filters in computer lab.

Unfortunately, this means that I will be forced to stop writing fanfiction. I'm really, really sorry if this lets anyone down! I'll keep writing and doing my best until then, and I hope my writing improves by the time I have to quit. So, until then, I'll keep doing my best, and I hope that you will all support my writing to the end!

Thank you so much! I love you all,

-Rizu)


End file.
